


The price to pay

by MistnShadow



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 18-17, Adiren is dumber than he seems, Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Again sort of, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - No Kwamis, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Another sort of thing, Dialogue Heavy, Dorks in Love, F/F, F/M, Flustered Luka Couffaine, Lots of words, Luka is a mess, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Medieval AU, Minor Injuries, Not a One shot anymore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Luka Couffaine, Slow Burn, Sort Of, We are in for a looooong ride folks, Well yes kwamis and miraculous but no, fast updates, magic and swords, relatively
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25725475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistnShadow/pseuds/MistnShadow
Summary: Luka wanted to save his sister. An abandoned temple held the answer to his problems, but the price is high. Will Luka be able to pay, or will he give more than he should?Adrien is alone, an eternal void filled his existence, a new comer has arrived. They are all the same, or so he thought, he couldn't have imagined he would receive the biggest payment he had ever seen. Maybe he wouldn't be alone anymore.Based on my one shot: "My wish, your price" https://archiveofourown.org/works/24697174
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine
Comments: 20
Kudos: 68





	1. The wish

**Author's Note:**

> Gooooood evening (or whatever time it is when you read this) everybody! I'm MistnShadow (or Mist for the lazy fellas) and I'm here to finally bring what I promised, an actual sequel to my (former) One Shot "My wish, your price" I would like to thank user AvatarYang for actually being the only person to ask me about the sequel (ThankyousomuchIloveyou) in the comments, so when you read this (if you do) thank them as well!!:D  
> Anyway, the first chapter is going to be the same as the one shot but with tiiiiiny modifications, if you haven't read the one shot well, you are welcome to ignore it and read this directly, aaaaaand if you read the one shot, you are welcome to ignore it and read this one as well:D Or not, you can skip directly to the second chapter, I won't promise you won't be confused thou, do it at your own risk. YOU HAVE BEEN WAAAAARNED

Luka had been walking through the woods for some time now. Three days had passed since he left his village in his search. According to the map the elder gave him, the abandoned temple wasn’t too far now.

The moon was starting to make its way to the sky, so Luka decided to clear a place for him to sleep in this forest. He grabbed his sword and slashed any kind of vines, shrubs, and tall grass in his surroundings until he managed to produce a small clear space in the middle of the trees.

After gathering some twigs and branches, Luka managed to start a small campfire and after spreading the small blanket his mother packed for him in the ground, he sat.

Grabbing the small satchel that he carries in his shoulder; he took out a smaller bag made out of light blue fabric. Inside he found the treats Marinette had packed him “ _Fo_ _r whenever you start missing the taste of home. M.”_ a little note said.

He was lucky to have her, along with his sister and mother, Marinette was the dearest person he had and considered her as his other younger sister. Both of them having grown up together and even worked in the same place for a while when Marinette’s parents offer Luka a job in their inn. He then took a bite of one of the cookies in the bag.

“It really does taste like home.” Luka said chuckling a little bit, thinking about his friend’s words when she delivered the treats at the village’s exit.

Luka missed home, even though only three days had passed, for 17 years he had never left the small village before. He was never alone, not once in his whole life. Since his mother had a job with a 12 hour shift at the village tavern, Luka had grown being raised by everyone in the village, all the other kids as his siblings and always with the feeling that he had everything he wanted.

Even if Luka hadn’t had a father, every other adult had given him enough love and appreciation for him not to need one. Even when his mother wasn’t always home because of her job, he knew that she did her best in order to raise both him and his sister. Even if all the other kids had to go home before dusk, Luka knew that no matter what, his sister, Juleka, would always be by his side, he would never be alone.

“Juleka…” Luka said as he looked at the fire. He reached for his lyre left beside his satchel in the ground, and started strumming it lightly, his nervousness starting to catch up.

He knew why he needed to make this trip, he knew he was the only one who could do this, and he knew that the elder had to be right. If he wasn’t… Luka didn’t like to think about it. The strumming becoming fast-paced.

Luka stayed up for a little while, playing songs that reminded him of his sister, of his mother, of his friend, of his small village, his family. After playing his instrument for a while, Luka left his lyre back where it was beside his satchel and left himself lay on top of his blanket, the sound of the woods lulling him to sleep.

* * *

When Luka woke up, he stood up as quick as he could. He picked up his satchel and took out a small container with water and threw some of it to his face. He saved his water container and blanket in his bag and slung it in his shoulder, then he grabbed his favorite instrument and using his self-made straps, he hanged the instrument to his back. Finally, he putted on his belt which contained the scabbard where he carried his small sword, and with all his belongings in place he began his march again.

“Wait for me Juleka, I’m almost there.”

With a light step and a renewed energy, Luka kept following the map the elder provided him, until he could finally distinguish what he was looking for. In a secluded area of the woods, covered by tall trees which block most of the morning sun, surrounded by a lake of crystalline water, a small piece of land held on top a tiny building, not bigger than Luka’s humble house. The building was made of stone, cracks had appeared all around its walls, and vines had begun developing around it. The building itself reminded Luka of the small chapel that he saw in a book once.

“It’s smaller than I thought.” Luka said talking to himself (a quirk Luka was very fond of) “But if the elder says that this abandoned temple holds the answer, then I have nothing to lose trying.”

Luka surrounded the lake and found a small path of rocks leading towards the building. Once in front of the entrance, Luka stepped inside, and he fell a shiver run down his back. He turned his head and he suddenly couldn’t see the exit anymore. Filled with fear he turned his head back to the front, noticing that torches now illuminated a space that, although decayed and covered by cracks and vines everywhere, was evidently much bigger than the small temple he saw before.

He walked forward to the front of the seemingly spacious temple, noticing that he couldn’t see beyond the farthest torch, he couldn’t see the end to the other side of the temple. Luka walked warily, with a hand in his sword, until he reached the farthest torch, he was about to venture into the darkness of the remaining part of the temple, when suddenly he heard a voice.

“What is it that has brought you here?”

Luka couldn’t discern the person who was speaking from the tone of the voice. The voice itself sounded like a choir of voices, male and female, young and old, all of them talking in unison. Even with Luka’s sharp hearing, he couldn’t identify a single thing about the voice owner.

“I’m here looking for someone.” Luka ventured to say, hiding the trembling of his voice as best as he could.

“I’m looking for a sage. My village’s elder told me that if I came here, a wise man would be able to fulfill my request.” Luka told the incorporeal voice. “A-Are you the sage?”

“That is what people have been calling me lately, yes.” The voice answered. “Tell me, what is it that you wish?”

“It’s my sister.” Luka’s body seemingly relaxed for being able to meet who he was looking for. “She has fallen ill, the elder and the healer in the village already examined her but couldn’t determine the cause.” He said, tears finding their way to the corner of his eyes.

“T-the healer said that her symptoms were bad, whatever she has contracted, was killing her, quickly, she doesn’t have much time left” Luka’s voice tone growing desperate. “Please, Sage, I implore you, help me save my sister! Please tell me how can I cure her! She is my only sister, if my mother and I were to lose her, we would be...” He stopped, unable to harbor the thought

“I see, in that case, please tell me, what are you willing to pay?” The choir-like voice inquired, same apathic tone as before.

“Pay? I- I- I didn’t know we had to pay something… I don’t- I don’t have any money, my family is poor! Why did nobody tell me that you would ask me for a payment?!” Luka was growing to anxious, he felt tempted to grab for his lyre in an attempt to calm his nerves but decided against it trying to fight the feeling.

“I ask not for money. As long as you are willing to give something, I will assess if the payment is enough or not.” The voice answered, tone calm and steady.

“So… you can accept any type of payment? In that case would you be willing to take this sword?” Luka asked, raising his weapon towards the front, not knowing if the sage could or not see it.

“A cheap iron sword whose ownership is not yours originally is not enough payment” The voice said coldly, but not harshly.

“In that case, this satchel, and its contents, I can give them to you as well as the sword!” He said as a counteroffer.

“I can see you have most of your physical possessions in that satchel, but even then, those are not enough payment for the life you wish to save.”

“Then…then I’ll give you this.” Luka said, unstrapping his lyre from his bag and raising it.

“An instrument… Handmade I can see, full of emotional value. A gift for you isn’t it? From your family perhaps? Memories, emotions, experiences, all of them attached to a single piece of teal painted wood and string. I recognize the greatness of its value, if your wish were any other thing, I would have accepted, but a human life is much more valuable than something physical. Your lyre may have accumulated a lot of essence across the years, but an object by itself has not as much potential as a human. A human is able to explore, to learn, to feel, to grow, to die. If you wish for a human to be saved, then you must raise your offer.”

Luka fell to his knees, he had nothing else to offer. Of course, he possessed nothing that could equal the life of his sister! No item in the world could compare to that.

“No item…” Luka whispered.

“Sage!” Luka called. “What about me? What if I offer my life as an exchange for my sister? Would that be enough payment? I will die instead of her!”

“Ending a life is the same as turning a human into an object, you give up all of their remaining time and potential. If you were to die instead of your sister, all of your possibilities would end. Accepting your life as payment would be as telling me to take a piece of meat.” The voice answered with the smallest hint of dislike in its voice. “Either think of another possibility or leave already, I dislike suicidal people.”

“I’m not suicidal! I just wish to save my sister!” Luka said with anger starting to boil in his blood. “Do you think that I don’t want to grow and keep living with my family? Do you think I don’t want to spend my time with my family, my friends?!” A shock went through Luka’s mind, just like a spark.

“Wait…I know… I know what you want! I know why you wouldn’t accept a sacrifice as a payment! What you value the most, what you actually want to have, is something much more valuable right?!”

“Do I now? Well, tell me, what is it that you think I want?” The voice said, intrigue starting to show in the choir.

“Time.” Luka exhaled. “What you want the most is time, not as substance, but rather as potential. Time is able to give birth to anything. You mentioned emotions, and feelings, and knowledge and growth. Time is able to give all of this to a person, but, as you said, if a person dies, is like giving up on their remaining potential, their time!”

The choir of voices remained silent for a moment. Luka was starting to grow nervous by the second again, thinking that maybe he had finally offended the sage. He was almost ready to talk again in order to apologize when he finally got an answer.

“You are an interesting one. For years I have been here, granting wishes to travelers like you, and in all my experience, no one had ever offered up their own time!” The chorus said. Footsteps could be heard on the dark side of the temple. “You have definitely piqued my interest.” The chorus started dying out, a single voice raising from among the others.

“Very well, I will accept your payment.” The voice singled out, the voice of a young male emerging from the shadows, followed by the silhouette of a slender young man. “Give me your time, and I swear upon my name, that I will save your sister.”

The young man had come up to the light of the torches. Luka observed the sage and couldn’t believe his eyes. The sage was a boy, no older than Luka, his hair was brilliant golden, his eyes were green as the precious gems he had seen in wealthy travelers. His face had some of the most beautiful and fine features he had ever seen. He was a little bit shorter than Luka, and his physique was hidden by a black, long robe with green linings. In his left hand a grey long staff of an unknown material was standing beside him.

“So? Are you willing to give up the rest of your time to me, in exchange for the well being of your sister?” The sage said, now with emotion showing vividly, his eyes shining with the curiosity of a feline watching his prey with interest and excitement.

Luka was feeling nervous for a completely new reason than before, but he couldn’t quite explain it. He drew a big breath of air and exhaled slowly. Once he was prepared and a little calmer, he answered.

“Yes. If I have to surrender my time to you, be it what that may imply, in order to save my sister, then, my time is all yours, Sage.” Luka said, bowing his head ever so slightly as if showing humbleness and respect to the sage. Or maybe as an excuse to look to the floor instead of the person standing in front of him.

“Then it is done.” The sage raised his staff slightly from the floor and then he knocked the floor lightly with it. A strange white light emerging from under the staff and spreading in a circle around it until it became so big it went out of the temple. “Your sister is now safe, you can breathe with ease, Luka.”

Luka relaxed ever so slightly, until he noticed something out of place.

“Wait, how do you know my name, Sage?” Luka asked, curiosity winning over relief.

“I always knew your name, Luka, as well as your sister’s, and your mom’s, and your friends’. My power as a sage allows me to have knowledge of practically everything in this world, that’s how I directed my power to your sister even without you telling me to.” The sage said as a matter of fact, like having omniscience was something common.

“And, the name is Adrien, not Sage, Luka. You better remember it, because from now on, your time and mine are one and the same, like it or not.” Adrien said as he smiled with a perfectly white teethed grin ~~that Luka couldn’t help but admire~~.

“Th-Then what are you going to have me do? Be your slave? Your worker, or something?” Luka said.

“What?! Oh no no no no, Luka no! I don’t intend to use you! I want you to share your time with me. I wish to live your life, and witness your true potential, alongside you. That is your payment to me. You have piqued my interest, and so, I wish to know the world now through your experiences.” Adrien said as he started walking circles around Luka, analyzing him with eyes full of curiosity.

“Not only are you brave enough to have come here all the way from your village when you obviously are unable to wield a sword correctly. But you also are selfless enough to offer your most valued possession in exchange for those who you love. Sure, you may be reckless to offer up your life in exchange for others without thinking in the consequences, but that is also part of your, how would I call it? Charm.” Adrien said, a small grin forming in his face and emerald eyes directing their gaze to Luka’s blue ones.

Luka was starting to feel nervous, his brain trying to catch up with everything the sage ( _“Adrien”_ he reminded himself) was saying.

“Well…” Luka gulped, unable to maintain eye contact with Adrien any longer. “I suppose that I have to keep my word then.” Luka answered, a tremble in his voice forming.

“Excellent then!” Adrien chuckled “Well in that case…” Adrien extended his hand towards Luka.

“My name is Adrien, and it is a pleasure to be able to share the rest of your time with you, Luka”

Luka took Adrien’s hand and shook it lightly “I hope I will be able to live up to your expectations, Sa… I mean! Adrien. Please do depend on me for everything you wish. I owe you, after all.”

Adrien squeezed Luka’s hand a bit.

“Well then” Adrien said, a wide grin that spread all the way to his eyes appearing “Please take care of me Luka, until death do us part.”

Luka was left stupefied by Adrien’s sudden proposal. His head now void of words, and unable to take any actions.

 _“Until death do us part.”_ Luka repeated in thoughts.

“What are we waiting for Luka?! Come on!” Adrien practically shouted while laughing giddily, his hand on his staff and the other still on Luka’s. He then pulled both of them towards the exit of the temple.

Luka then reacted, noticing he was holding Adrien’s hand while he was being dragged by the now very emotional, hyperactive, and seemingly happy sage towards where he came from.

 _“I think I must have paid a bigger price than I first realized.”_ Luka thought while following the blond as close as he could and avoiding to trip with the occasional rock or branch in their path. His head spinning, his heart beating, and his stomach, for some reason he still wouldn’t understand, felt uneasy.


	2. The boy and the sage (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy and the sage take a rest before continuing their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter after the other I'm on fire today!!! And for the first time in a while, I'm not uploading at ungodly hours :D Anyways, here you have the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it all, and to those of you who already read the first one, thank you soooo much!!! I love you all c:  
> Oh! And for those of you who haven't noticed yet, I like writting long chapters, it's not that I don't like shortfics or whatever, I just can't avoid constructing whole complex stories in my head so, yeah, my chapters are long because my stories tend to be long -w-U Sorry for that.

A long time had gone by when Adrien finally felt tired of running with Luka in tow, sunset was coming close, but the sky had yet to start changing in color. Just like Luka remembered, the way back home took more than just a day of running, thing that the ~~supposedly~~ omniscient mage apparently hadn’t realized before running all the way from the temple to the place they now stand in.

“We should probably set a camp here.” Luka started. “The way back to my town will take us at least another day, and wild animals become restless at night in these woods.”

“I know that!” Adrien complained childishly while crossing his arms. “I only… forgot that your town was that far away. All right?” Adrien said half mumbling.

“Well if you say so.” Luka said trying to contain the quizzical look in his eyes that threatened to emerge at Adrien’s behavior. He then proceeded to sit in the ground and rummage through his bag. “In any case, I usually sleep in the grass, with the blanket I carry in my bag, but you can have it if you want, you didn’t bring anything with you after all, and I’m used to having my clothes a bit dirty. Also, I don’t really have food, but if you want me to, I can try and look for some fruit or maybe a small animal somewhere near for you to eat. I have water though! Here you can drink some from mine if you are thirsty, we have been running for a while now.” Luka then took out his flask of water and reached towards Adrien.

“Uhm… Luka, calm down.” Adrien said, eyes widened, trying to absorb all the information that the, seemingly, older boy had expelled from his mouth at such a fast pace. “Ok, first of all, stop calling me ‘you’ alright? I already told you my name is Adrien, A-D-R-I-E-N, not ‘you’ or ‘Sage’ or whatever.” Adrien said pouting a bit at the idea of the boy still not saying his name.

“Second, no thank you, you can keep your blanket, I will sleep in my robe, I normally use it like that back in the temple after all.” The blond then proceeded to put his gray staff on the floor and took off his black robe. Underneath he wore a pair of simple beige pants, a pure white dress shirt tucked underneath his waistband and deep brown-colored suspenders with a pair of shoes in the same tone.

Adrien arranged the robe in the floor and proceeded to sit in front of a flabbergasted Luka. “Third, I’m not really hungry but if you want something…” Adrien then lifted his left index finger, signaled something in the ground and then raised his finger towards the sky. A dark substance rose from the point Adrien had signaled and it began taking the form of a normal household cat. “This little guy will bring it for us” the younger one said smiling calmly towards Luka.

“W-wh-what is that?!” Luka said coming out from a shock and starting to retreat backwards.

Adrien chuckled lightly. “Calm down, Luka, it’s just a shadow. I can do magic, remember? I’m the all-powerful sage after all!” Adrien said while puffing his chest out in a prideful way.

“Is it safe? I have heard of magic before but… we don’t really have mages in my town. Your shiny thing with the staff back in the temple was the first time in my life looking at magic.” Luka said going back to his original place in the ground. “Can I touch it? Is it like a real cat? Like, can I actually pet it and it will purr or something?”

“My cat is not an ‘it’, Luka, it’s a ‘she’ and sure, you can try and pet her, my darkness magic materializes shadows, so even if you touch it your hand won’t go trough or anything, and about her behavior… well I don’t really know many cats, she is based on one I met when I was a child so, sure, if you pet her she should be able to purr, if she enjoys it.” Adrien said while looking curiously at a wary Luka reach his hand to touch the black cat.

The dark-haired boy touched the head of the cat, a quiet meowl could be heard in response. He then began petting the space between her ears and although not purring, she began running her head on Luka’s hand. “I think she likes you.” Adrien said, bringing Luka back to reality.

“Yeah, she seems nice. What’s her name?” Luka said, as he let go of the cat and looked back to the mage.

“She is called Umbra…” Adrien said with nostalgia in his eyes, and a hint of longing in his voice as he reached to stroke his cat. Luka wanted to ask what was wrong, but he decided to change the topic.

“So… how is this beautiful shadow cat supposed to bring food?” Luka said, taking Adrien out of his trance.

“Well, I just have to ask her and she’ll go search for something. Look.” Adrien cleared his voice and then started. “Umbra, me and my friend here want some fruit, could you go and find something for us?” As soon as Adrien finished Umbra meowled and sunk into the floor, blot of shadow now moving quickly farther from the boys.

“She’ll come back when she finds something.” Adrien said, now proceeding to lay on his back looking towards the sky. The sun was starting to set now, the red starting to show in the clouds. “Oh! and about the water, thanks but no thanks, I can also handle that.” He then clasped his fingers and small water spheres, the size of marbles appeared above his head. He took one with his hand and drank it.

“What is…” Luka started before being interrupted by Adrien. “Water magic, I can manipulate the water in the air and change it to the shape or state I want. You want some?” Adrien then took one of his spheres and looked towards Luka.

“Sure, if it’s only water.” Luka said, as Adrien rised from his place in the floor and sat again. “Say aaah” Adrien told Luka. The older boy hesitantly opened his mouth and let the blond feed him the water sphere. He then quickly closed his mouth and looked towards the now rather interesting cloud above him. ~~He wasn’t trying to hide his blushing cheeks, not at all.~~ “Huh, it’s just like normal water after all.”

“Yup.” Adrien said, a proud little smile in his face as he went back to drinking (eating?) his water spheres while laying on his back.

“Well, with you here, it will certainly be easier to start a fire huh. Wow, it must be great being a mage able to do anything.” Luka said now starting to relax and reaching in his satchel to take out his blanket already tired of laying in the bare ground.

Adrien stopped, his face morphing into a serious one and then he turned his head to the side away from Luka. “What’s wrong?” Luka asked.

“I…I can’t make fire. I-I mean I can, I sure can! I’m the all-powerful sage! But… but I can’t right now.” Adrien said, his head still turned away from Luka, trying to avoid looking at eyes filled with disappointment.

 _“Now I’ve done it, he was starting to feel relaxed around me already, and now I already let him down. He’ll start to dislike me, just like **he** did before. I’m sure of it” _Adrien thought as a small tear started forming in the corner of his left eye.

Meanwhile Luka sensed something was wrong with Adrien. He had this unexplainable gift to feel the emotions of those surrounding him, like a change in the wind. He extended his hand towards the other boy in an attempt to console him but decided against it. _“I don’t know him that much. He might get uncomfortable.”_

“Adrien.” Luka said, catching the attention of the other boy. “It’s okay, I can light the fire, we don’t need magic for every single thing. What about you help me search for some firewood? There are many trees around, and I can show you how to choose it. What do you think?”

After a moment of silence Adrien finally talked. “You finally said my name.” The phrase was almost a whisper, just loud enough for Luka to hear as well. Adrien then jumped energetically and rubbed his face with his hands. “All right! I would love to learn from you, oh great ranger!” Adrien said mockingly towards Luka, while the older boy let a sigh of relief leave from his mouth, to then chuckle lightly. “Ok, ok, my young apprentice, just follow my lead and we’ll have a fire in no time at all.” Luka said following Adrien’s game and going along with his newfound enthusiasm, infecting himself with it and standing from his place in the blanket.

“Come on Luka, let’s go already! Umbra will come back soon, and nighttime will fall as well, we don’t have much time!!” Adrien said with the excitement of a child while taking Luka’s arm and dragging him towards the nearest tree. Luka just laughed and let himself being dragged by the blond for the second time that day.

“Calm down, Adrien, I’m going.” Adrien’s smile became just a little bit wider at the mention of his name, unknowingly even to himself.

Both boys then went to look for firewood, Adrien learning quickly how to distinguish between green, young branches that would only cause smoke and brown colored, dry wood that would work to kindle a nice fire. They went back to their camp and Luka quickly built a small fireplace in the middle of the black robe and the blanket, against Adrien’s insistence to teach him how to, deciding that light was disappearing soon and the needed the fire to lit as quick as possible. Luka promised he would teach Adrien how to build a fireplace and light a fire next time.

“After all, you have all of my time, Adrien.” Luka reminded the mage, making both boys’ stomachs to feel a little weird, but dismissed only as hunger.

Umbra came back with a meowl, the shadow cat emerged from the ground carrying a pair of red shiny apples in a branch and a fish in his mouth. Adrien dismissed Umbra with a ‘thank you’ before making him disappear with the movement of a finger. Luka decided to cook the fish, having learned from years of having to cook for his sister and tired mother. Meanwhile Adrien used a small blade made of water to cut the apples in bite sized pieces, and both boys decided to eat what the cat had gathered for them while sitting in front of the fireplace, both boys looking face to face to each other. Dinner went by peacefully until a certain blond boy decided to break the silence at last.

“So, Luka, why don’t you tell me about your town.” Adrien said while chewing on his half of the fish.

“Aren’t **you** supposed to know about it, Mr. Knowitall?” Luka said with a tiny smirk directed to Adrien.

“No… I actually don’t.” Adrien said, looking towards the piece of apple he was about to bite. He took a deep breath and then talked again “I’m not the Sage anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. What do you think? Was it good? Was it bas? Too much info? Too little info? Too much text? Do I write like a caffeinated hamster on pills? Maybe.  
> Anyways, please leave your comments on whatever you wish to say, I would love to hear your opinions and everything you like. And as always kudos are appreciated and treated as my own kids son thank you for those.  
> Oh and if you find any typos or whatever you think looks weird, please tell me, I still don't proofread this things hehe.  
> Have a nice day everyone!!  
> Thank you for reading c:


	3. A difference between a sage and the Sage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the light of a fire the boy and the sage have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, this is definitely my week, three chapters already?? Daily?! I can't even recognize myself, is anything going on with the stars or something? Anybody know why I'm feeling so pumped up and creative all of a sudden? I sure don't but hey, I'm not gonna complain.  
> Anyways, thanks to those who are leaving kudos and the others who are increasing that 'Hits' number. I hope you are enjoying my story up to now, and well I'm pleased to bring you the third chapter to this (probably really long) tale.  
> Please enjoy!!^w^

_“So, Luka, why don’t you tell me about your town.” Adrien said while chewing on his half of the fish._

_“Aren’t **you** supposed to know about it, Mr. Knowitall?” Luka said with a tiny smirk directed to Adrien._

_“No… I actually don’t.” Adrien said, looking towards the piece of apple he was about to bite. He took a deep breath and then talked again “I’m not the Sage anymore.”_

* * *

Adrien's POV

“What do you mean?” He asked. “But, I just saw your magic, and you even knew the way to my village from the temple, you were walking in front of me.” He said in a calm voice, I was expecting something a bit more demanding, hopefully it wasn’t.

“That was my own magic, and the road, it’s actually quite easy to remember, you just need to go straight to the east of the temple, until we find an actual path and from there I was planning to let you guide.” I said quietly.

I felt a hand resting on my shoulder but wasn’t conscious enough to give it a second thought. “Adrien…” I immediately turned my head this time, and I could see a pair of shiny teal eyes looking straight at me. “What’s wrong? Do you want to talk about it?”

I looked at Luka, his big eyes alluring, and then I looked at the hand he had on my shoulder, the first time he had touched me by his own volition. I sighed and began talking. “All right, I suppose I should tell you. You see I am the Sage, right? A powerful practically omnipotent existence that’s only heard in tales, aren’t I?” I said looking towards the fireplace, doubting whether to continue or not. I felt a small squeeze in my shoulder and it reassured me to keep talking.

“The Sage is able to manipulate all kinds of magic, and has the knowledge of everything, but I’m not the Sage. I’m just a common sage, a magician with a lot of practice you might say. Things happened some years ago, and I was chosen by the temple to be the next Sage, but I’m not the only sage that has ever existed. All of us were talented magicians, yes, good enough to be called a sage, but the real Sage, has to be a part of the temple, we were chosen by it. Like it or not…”

The hand left my shoulder. My head whipped rapidly towards Luka, only to see his eyes still completely focused on me, a nod of his head expecting me to continue. I looked towards the ground. _“Why did you let go?”_

“So… the Sage receives the power from the temple, that place is the actual Sage, lending its power to a magician of its liking. Inside the temple I can use all kinds of magic; control the wind, produce fire, shake the earth itself, and even have the knowledge of everything just by thinking about it, but there’s a price. I don’t exist when the temple doesn’t need me to, so if the temple has no visitors with request, it’s like I’m sleeping. Sure, maybe I’m an all-powerful being, but I spent most of eternity unconscious, and outside, I’m just… me, regular old, me.” I sounded dejected, I know I did, but how else could I sound when I was exposing how useless I became once I’m separated from a decayed, old building.

“That’s why I couldn´t make the fire before. My affinity with magic just covers water and darkness, I can’t manipulate any of the others. And, all the knowledge, sure I remember some of the things I learned inside the temple, but that’s just my good memory, if I never asked the temple about something, I obviously don’t know it.” I felt heavy, the heaviest I felt in ages, as if my life was being drained from my self as each word flew from my mouth. I know, I wasn’t anything special, my father told me, **he** told me, everyone back then thought the same.

“That’s about it.” I chuckled sadly. “I can’t do anything on my own, I don’t really know about the outside, I’ve been too long in the temple. I can’t even light a fire to keep myself warm. I can’t wield weapons either.” I turned to look at Luka’s scabbard laying in the ground. “I’m just a kid who spent a long part of his life locked up and sleeping.”

 _“He’ll definitely think I’m useless now. I can’t blame him, stuck with a useless magician that can’t even control three elements. Just a naïve child. Just someone who had luck to be chosen to live forever in a temple. Just a shadow…”_ A tear started falling from my eye and running across my cheek.

Then I felt it. A body crushed mine in an embrace. I came back to reality from the depth of my own darkness. I blinked a couple of times, registering that I was crying. Acknowledging that someone was hugging me? I looked to my right where Luka was sitting, and I ended up almost bumping heads with the older boy. He was there hugging me tightly with his eyes closed shut, a frown in his forehead, and a sad grimace in his face. I couldn’t react, too stunned to do anything.

Luka then separated himself an arm’s length from me, still grabbing both my shoulders, turning my body to face him and not the fireplace. His face was serious, his eyes where shining intensely at the light of the fire, I couldn’t stop looking at them. Then he started talking.

“Adrien, first of all, please don’t cry alright?” He then wiped a tear I hadn’t noticed falling from my eye with his thumb, then returning his hand to my shoulder. “What in the whole world ever made you think that you were only special thanks to the temple?! That’s what you think am I right? Adrien, you are amazing. Take my word for it, you are incredible, simply unique!” Luka said, his shining eyes still looking at mine, in an entrancing way, a little smile growing in his face. “You remember I told you I have never seen magic before, right? That just shows how unusual is for a person to be a magician! And besides that, you said you were chosen by the temple, weren’t you? You, and only you, were given the title of Sage, probably among many people. Besides, you are cheerful, and curious, so full of energy, and you are even quick to pick up on what other say, like when I taught you about firewood a while ago.”

I was shocked I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Luka actually thought that I was special, and even amazing. My eyes were wide open, looking at Luka probably with all the incredulousness I could show. I couldn’t speak, still processing the boy’s words.

“And I’m not saying this just because I owe you or anything.” Luka resumed hastily. “I just, really think that you are much more than how you make yourself sound.” He let go of my shoulders and I saw him move closer to me again, lifting his right hand and putting it on my cheek, guiding my face in his direction, his eyes searching for mine. “Adrien, never, seriously never, think that you are not good enough.” A warm smile in his face as he looked at me.

“You are capable of as many things as you propose yourself to do. Maybe some things will take more effort than others but look at you! You have control over magic, which is not as common as you make it sound, and you have maintained the title of Sage for the Gods know how long! You have helped people, you granted wishes, and you even saved my sister’s life. Adrien you are much more than just the person who the temple chose, you decided to help normal humans, you were the one who gave everyone a hope at a better and happier life. You are amazing.”

I was frozen, tears rolling down my face again, happy ones this time, his eyes fixed on Luka, a smile growing in his face as well. The warmth of Luka’s hand spreading to my face, feeling warm all around. He was smiling at me still, and we stood there for Gods know how long.

Out of nowhere Luka move his hand away hastily and moved away from me again, scratching his head and looking all around as if looking for something interesting anywhere except for my direction. I looked back to the fireplace my face still feeling warm, but my mind clearer.

“Thank you, Luka.”

He stopped fidgeting and I saw him look at me again from the corner of my eye.

“My pleasure Adrien.”

We stood in silence for a moment until he decided to break it once again.

“Well, it’s getting late we should lay down and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll arrive at my village and I will start teaching you about the world. Does that sound like a good idea to use my time for you, oh great mage?” Luka said with a slight teasing tone at the end.

I chuckled lightly. “That would be wonderful. Thank you, my loyal knight.” I said trying to follow the joke Luka had started.

“Oh no, I’m definitely no knight, I’m definitely more of a minstrel.” Luka said reaching for his lyre and playing a chord proudly as if stating his point. His face fighting to keep his laugh in control.

“Well in that case my talented minstrel, won’t you play something for me?” I said looking at him, my hand resting in my chin while I laid down in my robe.

“For you my mage, anything.” The boy winked at me and began playing a soothing melody. It made me think of a great pasture covered with green, beneath a great blue sky. My tiredness and the comfort of music lulled me to sleep. This was probably the first time in a long time I fell asleep willingly and with a smile on my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it folks, this time I didn't left a clift hanger aren't I awesome^w^  
> So that's how this boys are going to interact every now and then, little pep talks that lead to more physical contact than initialy intended (I'm looking at you blueberry head>.>) But aren't they just cute?:3  
> As you can see, Adrien has a bit of a dark place inside his head, and it will all be revealed at the right time, but yeah, poor kid has been suffering endlessly. Also! In this chapter I expose (really sneakily) the reasons why Adrien controls that type of magic, if anyone is willing to guess you are welcome to try in the comments, believe me it's not that difficult c;  
> Oh! As always, sorry for the typos, no beta reading again because lazy. If you find something weird please be cool and point it out, I'll correct it as soon as I can.
> 
> Well, thank you all for reading, I appreciate you guys a lot :3 Have a nice day or night or whatever you are having right now.


	4. Rolled carpets, berries and names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning greets the pair and the boy finds the sage in quite an unexpected predicament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo ladies, gentleman and people who don't need to follow those unnecessary tags asigned by heteronormative societies:3 How are you all? I'm suffering from a headache right now:D but writing is a good way to try and ignore it, so here you have it, a whole new chapter!  
> I would like to thank Shirien_Kazura because I took some of their ideas in the comments and added them to the story. If you are reading this, muchas gracias c: And please do keep commenting I love to discuss with you my ideas <3  
> Oh! Also, last chapter I forgot to mention it but from now on, most chapters are going to be from the point of view of either Luka or Adrien (last one being from Adrien's) those chapters that are written on third person will be a bit special so be on the lookout for them ok?  
> Enjoy your reading^w^

Luka’s POV

I woke up to the sounds of birds, the rustling of the leaves and an almost soundless mumbling of a sleeping sage. I sit up and stretch my back until I hear a loud pop and exhale calmly. It was morning already, judging by the sun, it hadn’t been too long since dawn, maybe an hour and a half. I move groggily to my pouch to grab my flask of water and take a small sip, then I pour some in my left hand and use that to wash my face, drowsiness flowing along with the water until it disappears.

“Well, time to begin the second day of the rest of my life. Or his? I’m not really sure about it.” I said to nobody in particular, as I always do whenever no one is there to hear me. “Now, how is our blond, magic prodigy doing?” I stood up and went towards Adrien’s robe, noticing that while sleeping the boy somehow managed to roll himself inside the robe, and now mimicking a rolled up black and green carpet with golden fur in one extreme. “How did he even manage to do that without rolling into the fireplace?!” I noted obviously curious about the younger’s sleeping habits.

I crouch on the side of the robe cylinder where golden hair stood out, and being true to my obviously scientific personality, my first action is to poke the bundle of blond hair. I poke once, the mage doesn’t seem to notice the contact. I poke twice, a small movement is detected, probably still sleeping. I poke a third time, a head comes out of the carpet, startling me as the head yawns unconcerned. _“That does it I’m no scientist, this close to being heart attack is proof of it.”_

I saw Adrien yawn again and the he blinked rapidly two or three times before noticing me and locking eyes with me and saying. “Good morning Luka.” A small ~~angelic~~ smile on his face as he greeted me. “Well, good morning to you to, magic scroll.” I chuckle lightly and unconsciously ruffle his head.

“Hey! My hair!!” Adrien said half pouting. “And why did you call me magic scroll?” He asked showing the curiosity in those seemingly innocent eyes, probably unknowing of his position. “Uhm… why don’t you try to lift your arm?” I said, in an attempt to make Adrien notice his own situation.

“Why do you want me to…Gah!” While trying to raise his arm, Adrien changed his body weight causing him to roll to a side and ending up face down in the ground. I tried to stop me from laughing, I swear, but this was a difficult task, and I’m not one to suppress a good laugh. Once I was almost out of breath from laughing and Adrien’s muffled voice began showing preoccupation of being unable to turn I go towards the wrapped blond and roll him face-up again. “So… magic training includes connecting with your inner magic carpet?” I chuckle again lightly.

I turned my head towards Adrien and saw him blushing furiously, probably out of embarrassment. _“Oh no, he may be feeling bad about this. Did I go to far? Damn, ok ok ok I can fix this yeah, first of all let’s try to help him, yeah, yeah that should work. Then some reassuring words, and a pat on the head, ok, yeah, that’s the plant.”_

“Hey, don’t worry.” I offer him a smile and look directly at his eyes. “Let’s get you out of this mess alright?” He didn’t answer but I saw him nod his head lightly, that’s enough progress for now. “All right then, let’s see… Where’s the end of the robe?” I analyze the mess Adrien was caught in and after a while managed to set him free from his own piece of clothing.

“There! You are free once again.” I giggle and turn to look at Adrien, kneeling on the floor and still pouting a little, probably ashamed if the air around him was right. _“All right, part two.”_

“Hey, don’t be ashamed, everyone has sleeping habits they can’t control.” I kneel in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder, his eyes still avoiding mine. “Besides, you must be actually quite dexterous to be able to wrap yourself like that without bumping the fireplace. Were you feeling cold? Maybe that’s why you did it.” Adrien turned to look me in the eyes this time, maybe surprised that I wasn’t teasing him any longer and actually tried to understand the reason behind his subconscious action.

“Now that you mention it, yeah, I was feeling a bit cold in the ground before going to sleep, I’m not used to sleeping in the outside, or well, sleeping without being technically forced to.” Adrien relaxed a bit, his shoulders going down. “All right then when we get to my village, I’ll get you something warmer in case we need to camp again ok?” He smiled kindly at me, his eyes smiling along with his lips. _“Watching him smile like this first thing in the morning is actually pretty nice. It makes me feel warm. I have to make him smile more; I like it.”_ I thought, hoping it’s not weird to think that way about a boy I just met yesterday and whom I can’t even call friend quite yet.

“Although, I don’t mind you doing that rolled-up magician thing.” I smirk mischievously before I speak again. “After all, you looked quite adorable when your head came out of the robe and yawned like a half-asleep cat” I laughed lightly and ruffled his head again. I then notice him blushing a bit. This time he wasn’t frowning or pouting, but his cheeks were looking a light pink. _“Oh, maybe I’m embarrassing him again. Maybe I should go a lighter with the teasing.”_

“Ok ok, stop messing my hair already Luka.” Adrien swatted lightly at my hand and chuckled lightly. “Hey! Today we should arrive at your town, right?!” Adrien said, his usual childish excitement back on his face. “Come on!! Let’s go I want to meet your house, and I have so many questions about the world nowadays too! Oh, and you know, if you lend me your kitchen maybe I could cook you something! I learned cooking in the temple one day I was bored with a guy who took three days to decide on his payment.” Adrien was practically jumping up and down even though he had been fast asleep just a while ago. I smiled at his antics while he hurriedly picked up his robe, shook it to brush away the dust and wore it again. He picked up his staff and conjured a pair of straps made of shadows from his robes and fitted the long artifact in his back, all the while still talking about all the things he wished to do once we got there.

“Luka? Hey, are you sleeping with your eyes open or something?”

“Sorry, what?” I shook my head a bit, freeing myself from the trance the blond caused me to fall in. _“Weird, why was I so focused?”_

“I asked if we are going to leave already. Your things are still all on the floor you know?” Adrien said giggling, probably at my face as realization hit that I still had to pack, and, unlike him, I have more than just what I’m wearing right now.

I packed up hurriedly as Adrien called Umbra to bring us some food. “Food that can be eaten raw, Umbra, we don’t have time to make a fire, so no fish ok?” Adrien said wagging a finger in front of the yawning black cat before it disappeared on the floor.

I packed up my things and donned my bag, my sword, and my lyre, just in time for Umbra to come back with a little sack made out of leaves on her tail. Adrien took it and revealed a big bunch of colorful berries I had never seen before. I look at him worriedly, wary of them being poisonous. Adrien not noticing my wariness just took a handful of them and shoved them in his mouth.

“What do you think you are doing?! Those could be poisonous!” _“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no. What if he starts chocking, will foam come out of his mouth? How do I cure poisoning? Do I have to suck the poison out? Nonono that’s for venomous animals. Wait will he die of poison? Maybe he has antidotes or magic potions in his robes! No wait he didn’t have any, oh my Gods, what am I going to do if he dies?!”_

My thoughts were immediately interrupted by a sound being emitted from the young magician. “Mmmmm!! Luka you have to taste these, they are delicious! These green ones are a bit sour, but if you eat them with the purple ones the sweetness counters some of that tartness.” I looked at him wide eyed and incredulously, my blood still beating in my head loudly.

“How could you do that?!” I grab him by both shoulders and shake him lightly. “Those could have been lethal!!” I stare at him intently waiting for an answer, and when his face finally goes from surprise to realization, I prepare myself to hear his excuse.

“OH!! Don’t worry Luka, Umbra would never bring something poisonous, she knows everything I do, and since I learned about all the existing plants and animals back in the temple, Umbra and I are practically living encyclopedias of living organisms.” Adrien says proudly as Umbra emerges from the top of his head and assumes a proud posture as well.

I relax completely and let out a breath I had been holding for Gods know how long. “Ok, that’s actually pretty impressive, but please do tell me those things before I have a seizure because of your reckless behavior.” I hang my head tiredly for a moment and when I stand straight again, a slightly fresh feeling was on my lips.

Adrien was pushing one of his colorful berries (a red one) to my lips and smiling innocently waiting for me to eat it. _“This feeding me in the mouth thing again? Oh Gods, I hope I’m not blushing”_ I thought even when I could feel the heat in my face. I open my mouth and let the berry fall inside of it and as I chew it, I could taste a flavor almost like strawberries but a little bit sourer. I unconsciously hum in enjoyment of the new flavor and turn to look at Adrien’s knowing eyes and smirk.

“Told you these were good.” Adrien said teasingly with a lopsided grin as he raised his hand to clap it with Umbra’s paw before she disappeared again.

* * *

We spent the rest of the road talking about whatever we could find on the road and eating the rest of the berries in Umbra’s little leaf sack. If I saw a plant or an animal that piqued my curiosity, I would ask Adrien about it and receive a whole explanation about them and in case of plants whether they could be poison, food, or medicine. At some point I unstrapped my lyre from my pack and started playing a small tune to keep us company while we walked. Adrien would sometimes hum along with my music and sometimes we both would, enjoying the sounds produced by the lyre and the nature around us. Three or four hours after we started walking, we could see the village entrance.

“I’m home.” I couldn’t help but whisper as I saw my hometown at the distance. _“Juleka, I hope you are all right now.”_

Adrien and I continue walking until a thought hit me out of nowhere. I stop in my tracks and Adrien, noticing I didn’t continue walking, followed suit. “Hey, thinking about it, what are we going to say to my townspeople? I mean, what’s your story? Are we going to outright tell them you are the Sage who saved my sister and now you are here with me for the rest of my life as payment?” I look to Adrien whose face was as blank and clueless as mine probably was.

“Umm… I’m your new… brother…? You picked me up from an abandoned village or something?” Adrien said unconvincingly even to himself.

_“Besides, I don’t know how comfortable I would be to call you brother. It just doesn’t feel right.”_

“What about you are a wanderer, and I found you on my way back?” I proposed. Adrien went silent and looked thoughtful for a moment. Before snapping his fingers. “That’s it! I have an idea!” His eyes were sparkling and looking at me expectantly. _“And who am I to refuse such a cute face? Wait! This I just think that?”_

“All right, all right. What’s your idea, oh great mage?” I said while playfully rolling my eyes. Silence followed suit, so I turned to look at Adrien and he was pouting once again. “What? What’s wrong?” I said hurriedly, worried I had somehow offended him.

“Adrien.” He said. “Say my name! My name is A-D-R-I-E-N. How many times do we have to go through this until you stop calling me mage, or sage, or whatever.” He looked to the side a bit, the air around him changing, he was feeling hurt again.

_“Shit, me and my dumb head again.”_

I go towards him and grab him by the chin to make him look at me. “Adrien, I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not used to referring to people by their names, it’s weird for me to talk directly at someone, I’m not the most sociable of the bunch.” I look at him expecting an answer.

“I understand, I’m sorry too. It’s just that, I don’t want you to see me as the Sage who saved your sister, or the mage with a magic cat. or just something as impersonal as some random guy who can do magic. I mean, I do enjoy that little game where you call me mage or sage and I call you minstrel or knight, but…” He hesitated a bit and his eyes avoided mine again, but I held his chin, not letting him avoid me any longer. His eyes came back to focus on me, and he continued.

“It’s just that, the whole day you haven’t said my name. Not even once! And I feel that you are just looking at me as a title or something and not as an individual. Luka…” He put his hand over my own that was holding his chin and lowered it, both hands now between us. “I want you to see me as me, as Adrien. I want you to look at me and not have to think just of our deal or of my power, please. I just want someone to look at me for being me.” He went quiet, his hold on my hand weakening, his head hanging low again.

_“Poor Adrien, I didn’t know he was feeling so estranged just because of his name. He must have been very lonely all these years, only being in company of people for them to want something out of him. Damn it! I wanted to make him smile, not see him this sad.”_

Adrien’s hand started slipping from mine, before it did, I grabbed it and intertwined my fingers with his without thinking. He quickly lifted his head and looked at me wide eyed. I looked at him straight in the eyes and squeezed his hand again. And then I spoke.

“Adrien. I promise I’ll look at you, ok? I promise to say your name, Adrien, as long as you need for you to feel comfortable. No sage, or magician, or sorcerer or mage or whatever, just you, Adrien. No fancy titles or anything that will make you feel that you are forcing me to stay with you, or that you don’t belong, just you and me, Adrien. And believe me when I say, that you are important, Adrien, not only because of what you did in the temple, but we are friends already, maybe it happened a bit too quick, but I’m pretty sure I feel comfortable around you, and I have no doubts that if you don’t think of us as friends yet, I would sure love to be your friend, Adrien.”

I felt his hand squeeze mine back and heard him chuckle quietly. He raised his free hand and wiped at his eyes, maybe a tear had began escaping him before. “I think this time you said my name more than necessary, goofball.” He chuckled again, and looked at me straight in the eyes again, a sweet smile forming in his lips. “Thank you, Luka, seriously thank you. And of course, we are friends, at least I also wish to be yours, and not only the owner of your time or something weird like that. I want us to be real friends, not just something that has to be.” He then turned his head and rubbed at the back of his head, his cheeks light pink again.

“If you want to, I mean. Although you were the one who said it first, so I suppose you do want to, but if you don’t I mean there’s no problem, I don’t really understand friendships yet so…” I laughed interrupting Adrien’s flustered train of thought, and grabbed his other hand as well, now both of our hand holding each other.

“Let’s be friends Adrien, now and forever, all right?” I said offering a smile at the younger boy.

“With pleasure.” Adrien answered, squeezing my hands lightly again.

_“This feels nice, I wish I could stay with him a while longer. He is such a kind person, and has a lovely smile, and his hands feel so soft and… Wait, what?”_

I let go of Adrien’s hand and rub at my head awkwardly, messing my hair a bit more than usual. “So, the plan to introduce you to my village? What was your idea, Adrien?”

He smiled a bit at the mention of his name, and then proceeded to speak. “Ok, so what if in the temple, you met the Sage, and the price to pay for your sister, wasn’t actually your time, but rather, your knowledge of the world? Think about it, I’m not the Sage, but rather his future replacement, an apprentice or something, but I was brought up inside the temple with him, so I have no knowledge of the outside world. The Sage ‘my master’ asked you to show me the world’s common knowledge, instead of waiting until I succeed him an learn only through magic and teach me until I take my place as Sage.”

I hum thoughtfully, a hand placed in my chin. “That could actually work! It would explain why I need to teach you about simple things like lighting up a fireplace or stores. At the same time, being the Sage’s apprentice would also explain that you are able to use magic in case we are ever in need of it! Adrien you are a genius!” He flushed at my comment and once again started rubbing the back of his head. _“Another cute quirk.”_

“Oh it’s just an idea, not that great of an achievement or anything you know?” He was smiling, and thus I was smiling as well.

“Well, Adrien, we got a plan, and we got a destination, and food to eat in my town, because those berries were amazing, but I’m hungry again.” I laughed a bit. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Luka, I’m ready. Let’s go!” Adrien said as he took running towards my village entrance with me following behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it folks!  
> Did you all notice how our boy Luka thinks a lot? I always felt that this is how he always is, even behind that serene face his mind is permanently going at 10000mph or something, so yeah, in Luka's POV chapters, many things are going to be in thought dialogues, or even in monologues since he likes talking to himself.  
> Tell me your thoughts! And if you wish to, leave me your comments with ideas, or feelings, or even complains I don't care, express yourself guys! I'll be reading you all. Oh and for those of you who want to, please leave your kudos to show your love for these two dorks and the story I put them in this time:3  
> Please pardon my english in this thing but, friendly reminder, I'm dying of sleep depravation and english is not my first language. If you find any typos, tell me pleaaaaaase.
> 
> Welp, that's all from me, have a nice day my friends, and as always, thank you for reading <3


	5. A village with things never seen before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys arrive to the village, and they now need to introduce the mage to allow for his stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't write much, because I intend to publish the next chapter soon and I'm seriously sleep deprived right now. I just want to apologize for the wait and I want to thank all of you for leaving your kudos and making the hit count grow. I love you all from the bottom of my heart<3

Adrien's POV

As we entered the village the first thing I noticed, was how small it was. I mean, I know I haven’t met a lot of towns _“except for my hometown…”_ but I’m pretty sure this could be considered universally small. I could see the limit of the village opposite to the one we came through and the number of buildings could probably be counted by a kid. Then I started noticing a different number of things; the smell of bread, the sound of a hammer on metal, the shouts of some kids, and at last a chicken that stepped right in front of me.

“Well, hello little buddy! Are you here to welcome me to your little town?” I said as I crouched and smiled towards the small animal.

“Adrien, wait don’t…”

“Ouch!” I stood up immediately and covered my nose. “What the hell! You feathered vermin, why did you do that?!” The wild bird had just pecked my nose fiercely and would probably try to do it again had Luka not picked the little demon up and fitted it between his arms.

“What are you doing?! That thing is dangerous!!” I shouted at Luka while pointing to the wild beast in his arms.

“Oww, she is not a thing~” Luka said, using a voice you probably heard adults using when talking to a baby. “Tully is a good girl~” He said as he stroked the bird’s head lightly. “She is just a bit wary of strangers. Tully is like this place’s guardian. Aren’t you little piece of sunshine?” Luka said smiling towards the creepy animal which seemed to smile back at him.

“Uhm… Luka, you are kind of scaring me right now.” The beast turned its head towards me, and I could swear it began glaring.

“Don’t worry, Adrien. She’ll warm up to you.” He said as he lowered the chicken monster back to the ground. Immediately the chicken stepped in my direction and made a big movement with its wings and screeched loudly. I obviously didn’t shout like a little girl when this happened, I just took a step backwards and reached for the staff behind my back unconsciously.

“Maybe…” Luka said continuing his last thought. The much too raw chicken then just walked away towards a patch of farmland to our left.

“Anyways, you are already starting to meet our people apparently. So how about we continue the tour?” Luka said trying to hide a chuckle in his voice. “Don’t worry, Tully is the angriest of our bunch, well except maybe for Juleka when she is hungry, but that’s another issue.” He said as he trailed off to talk about some bad experience with a failed dinner recipe and a shouting sister.

Meanwhile I was thralled looking at the different people and constructions in the small settlement. Old, young, middle aged, kids, people from all ages were living inside this small town. I didn’t see many, this place couldn’t have more than fifty or so villagers. I saw what looked like an inn, a small sign on the door confirming my theory. Further away towards the village’s opposite entrance I saw the smoke from a furnace, possibly from an ironsmith. In the center of the village I could see a small round plaza with a bunch of people selling fruits, meat, and vegetables in wagons.

To my right and left two more paths extended to another pair of entrances to the town. In the corner of each of the paths a big building was located, one looked like a clothing store, another one is a bakery, the third building seemed to be something like a town hall, and the last one just seemed like a normal (although big) house. I made a mental map of the town in my head and the village looked just like a circle with a cross in the middle. The outer part of the circle consisted mostly of farmland and pasture for small animals. Then in the middle where the houses and close to the center where the buildings that seemed to be stores or that offered some kind of service. Finally, at the center was the plaza with produce vendors and the big four buildings.

“…en …drien. Adrien!!” I jumped startled by Luka’s shout almost inside my ear. “Geez, you finally woke up! I’ve been calling you for ages now!” Luka said with a pout and crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry, Luka.” I rubbed my nape and looked apologetically to the ground. “I was just so mesmerized by your city that I was analyzing everything that surrounded me, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” Luka sighed and raised his arm and patted me lightly and then rested his hand in the top of my head. I raised my eyes again and saw his shining teal eyes as well as his mouth forming a smile. “It’s okay, Adrien. I’ll take you for a tour around the town later, alright?” I nodded enjoying the warmth of his hand in my head, receiving some sort of comfort from it.

“But first, I have to introduce you to someone.” Luka said letting go of my head and turning towards one of the big buildings, the one that looked like a house.

“Wait is it your family?!! Am I going to meet your sister? And your mother?! Oh, my Gods! I’m so excited right now!!” I started peeking up on my excitement again. The idea of meeting new people being one of the things I enjoyed while being the Sage.

“Wow calm down! I’m not going to introduce you to my family yet, and how could you thing that this is my house?! Come on Mr. Mage, you must know about my family’s situation already from the time I made the wish, remember? First, I have to go and tell our village chief that I’m back and we have to introduce you to him. He is kind of a boss for all of us, he is pretty wise, and he was the one who told me about your story. Besides of being the oldest person still living here, I’m pretty sure the old man has some sort of immortality or something.” Luka said chuckling at his last thought.

“Come on, let’s go, it’s already past noon and the old man tends to fall asleep early.” Luka took my hand and guided me inside the house. We crossed a receiving room and finally arrived at what looked like a parlor, inside the floor was not made of wood planks or stone, rather it had some sort of hemp-made floor panels, and inside a small screen made of paper. Luka told me to take off my shoes and pushed me inside the room, then dragged me to sit down beside him in the floor.

“Elder Fu, I am back.” Luka said towards the shadow in the paper screen.

“I see that you are not alone, my child.” The voice of an old man came from behind the screen, a serene yet wise voice. “I knew you were coming back when your mother and sister came to see me, after she was cured out of nowhere.” I could see Luka relax and he could have sighed lightly at the words of the village elder.

“Yes, I did as you told me and found the Sage. I asked for my wish and cured my sister. In exchange, I had to pay for the wish. That’s also the reason why I’m not alone here.” Luka said turning to look at me, offering a smile to me, and then continued talking. “The Sage offered to cure my sister in exchange for me to take care of his successor. He is not familiar with the way the world works, so in exchange for my wish, I have to teach him, as well as take care of him for as long as I need to.”

 _“Forever”_ I thought to myself reminding me of the price I charged the other boy.

“Tell me, boy, are you sure you can trust this ‘apprentice’ which you were forced to take care of?” The elder’s words stung. I never considered Luka could felt forced to spend the rest of his life with me. That I could be a burden. Not a second had passed when Luka answered.

“I’m absolutely certain!” Luka said almost shouting. “Adrien is someone I can trust. I have no doubt about it! I may have met him just recently, but I am sure after talking with him, that he is a person full of kindness and whom I can say that would help those in need without a second thought.” I felt Luka taking my hand in his, his bewildered stare directed right at the paper screen. I couldn’t help but stare in awe at the passion at which the older boy had defended me.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” I released a breath I didn’t knew I had been holding and Luka visibly relaxed his whole body which looked ready to jump at the first negative answer. As we both relaxed, sound emerged from behind the screen, until a man appeared from behind it, and sat in front of us.

He was a small man, his gray hair combined in color with his mustache and small beard. His eyes small and tired, but full of a certain kindness that made me feel comfortable in his presence. He nodded towards Luka who returned the small reverence and then turned his head to me.

“So, I heard your name is Adrien, right?” He asked, calm and patience in his every word.

“Yes, that’s right, sir.” I said, more relaxed than I expected, as if the old man made me feel received here.

“And is that all your name, boy?” The man named Fu asked. His eyes closing a little, giving me a knowing, maybe mischievous look. I felt a cold drop of head in the back of my head.

_“What?? He can’t know, can he? I mean I haven’t met anyone in ages! If he knew who I am then **he** could… No! Let’s try and be calm, this could just be like back in my days, some people have a family name, maybe it has become more common, even! But I still can’t mention mine… Okay, I know.”_

“No, it’s not.” I said, newfound confidence supported by my latest introspection.

“Would you be as kind as to tell me your name then?” The older man said.

“I’m sorry sir, but my master forbids me to do that. He says is to detach ourselves from our background, since the Sage can’t make distinctions between people of different status.”

“Alright then.” Fu said, his eyes back to their kind relaxed form. “Well then Adrien, since you have to stay with Luka, I suppose that you’ll be staying with his family is that right?”

“Yes, we will take care of him.” Luka spoke again, reminding me that he was here all the time, during my exchange with the elder. Suddenly I’m afraid of the idea of he knowing about my family too.

“In that case I have no intention to stop you.” Fu stood up and turned towards the screen walking back. He then came to a stop and turned his head a bit back. The mischievous look back in his eyes. “Oh, and Adrien if you can, please thank your master. He saved one of us, and we will eternally be grateful for that.”

A feeling of warmth began building inside my stomach after the elder said that. I felt thanked rather than threatened by the past question. Then I heard Luka speak to me again.

“I’m really grateful too you know?” Luka said while smiling kindly to me. I felt heat reaching for my face, and unconsciously I reached to rub the back of my head again.

“You already thanked me a lot Luka, calm down” I said averting my eyes and trying not to sound as bashed as I felt. Luka laughed a little and then stood up.

“Come on.” He offered me a hand and I took it, then I stood up with his help and made way outside of the parlor. Wearing my shoes once again before exiting completely. “Let’s go Adrien! Now that you are no longer a stranger without the permission of the elder, it’s time for your tour.” Luka said as he guided me outside of the building again.

“But first, I think it’s time for you to meet my special someone.” Luka said. His words falling like a stone inside my stomach.

“Special someone?” I asked somewhat afraid of receiving an answer.

_“Why am I feeling like this? Isn’t it obvious that someone like Luka has someone in his life? I mean he is so kind and nice, and judging from how he defended me with the elder and the journey he did to find me, he is pretty brave and full of love for the people dear to him. It’s obvious he would have found someone special!!! It’s obvious, but it still hurts…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it folks. For today that is but as I said at the beginning, I'm going to publish a new chapter soon and I'll be able to write more soon-w-'  
> I'm sorry for the notes this time, they are too empty but it's what my brain is capable to do right no hehe.  
> I also apologize for the short chapter but I wanted to separate this part from the rest of the town introduction because my mind said it was a good idea, yup, that's the reason.  
> Anyways as always thanks for reading my story, and have a reaaaaally good day.


	6. Streets, meetings, and shiny eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mage seems a bit sullen after the meeting with the elder. The boy decides to try and cheer him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gooooooood evening (or whatever it is) everybody!! I'm alive again, or at least sort of :3 And here I am to bring you another chapter in this weird, clumsily written, story of mine. To be honest I delayed more than intended in publishing this chapter but that's only because I was writting the next one as well. So, as you may have guessed, the next chapter is coming earlier than expected, probably tomorrow or the day after tomorrow so... Yay :D  
> Anyway, I really want to thank every single person that dared to pose their eyes in this little mess of mine and even more to those who were able to read it, seriously guys you are the best!!! I hope I can live up to your expectations, I mean I don't really feel confident about it-w-' but I'll give my best effort at least!  
> Oh and for those of you who left any comments in any of the other chapters, you guys are my favorites, yup, I said it. Love you with all my existance<3

Luka’s POV

I stepped out of the Elder’s house with Adrien in tow. He looked a little lost in thought, but I believed it was just the shock of the Elder’s questions before.

_“He did seem a bit taken aback with the question of his name. Does he have a weird second name? Maybe ‘Adrien’ is just a name he took when he started managing the temple?”_

I wandered in my mind for a while until I felt something bumping my shoulder.

“Hey, are you ok? You stopped moving and just took out your lyre out of nowhere in the middle of the street.” Adrien said after pushing me lightly, with worry and a hint of awkwardness in his eyes. “Is this the thing that people refer to as being suddenly ‘suddenly struck by inspiration’? I tried calling your name many times you know?”

I looked at my arms and noticed that, effectively, I had grabbed my lyre and was fiddling with it while wondering about Adrien’s name, without even moving.

“Oh! Sorry, that happens sometimes, when I’m lost in thought.” I said feeling a little awkward while putting my lyre back in place with one hand and scratching my head embarrassed with the other.

“Oh… ok then.” Adrien said, the worry being replaced by the sourness that hadn’t left him since leaving the Elder’s home.

“Well, anyway, I promised to you that I would introduce you to someone very special to me! I’m pretty sure you’ll like her as well.” I said smiling excitedly, thinking about introducing her to Adrien already. Until I felt the air behind me changing, a bit chillier, maybe even darker. I turned my head to look at Adrien and saw his still shadowed face, still cumbered with thoughts I couldn’t comprehend but that I certainly disliked if they were able to erase Adrien’s prior excitement. I turned completely to face Adrien and tried to meet his eyes with mine.

“Hey, everything ok?” Adrien still looked as if he was sulking _cutely_ and avoided my sight looking downwards. “Adrien, come on, look at me. What happened?” I bent a bit so that I could look at Adrien’s face better, and with a hand I reached for his chin to make him look at me. “You know you can tell me anything don’t you? Come on what’s wrong? Is it something the Elder said? He isn’t ill intended he just wants to trust you as much as I do.” Adrien then straightened himself without looking at my eyes at all, my hand left hanging in the air where his face used to be.

“Yeah, sorry, I suppose I just was surprised that someone asked about my name after all this time.” Adrien said his voice darker than usual. I couldn’t feel his normal excitement or his childish happiness in his words. _It’s sad…_ “Come on, you said that you are going to introduce me to someone right? Let’s go.” Adrien said, walking past me towards the center of the plaza. _It really feels sad._

I followed Adrien and reached up to his side. Continuing with my usual mood hoping to lighten his own.

“Well, first I’ll explain to you the streets, if you don’t mind” I said smiling a bit towards Adrien, his eyes still fixed in front of him, avoiding mine. _Why?_ “Ok then… So, you see how we have four big buildings in each of the streets’ corners, right? Well the streets are named after the building to their left, so, if you were to name the street, we took to enter the village…” I said pointing to the street that was between the bakery and the tavern, the bakery to it’s left. “Then the name of that street is the ‘Baker’s street’. Then to the left, we have the ‘Tailor’s street’, the ‘Elder’s street’ and finally…?” I said expecting Adrien to answer.

“The ‘Weird building street’? I don’t really know what that one is. It looks like a town hall.” Adrien said the light of his voice still not lit.

“Oh! Right, that one is not as obvious as the others since the sign outside was torn… sorry. That’s the tavern, of course it had to be one of the biggest buildings around, I mean all the adults here need their alcohol after working, believe me. That’s also were my mom works.”

“So then it’s called the ‘Tavern’s street’?” Adrien said a hint of interest surging again in his voice. _Finally!_

“Yeah! The ‘Tavern’s street’ that’s right! Although we also tend to call it ‘Drunkard’s road’” I chuckled lightly. “You know because people would always end up sleeping there after a night of alcohol.” I said chuckling a bit because of my memories of the adults singing and dancing happily after their fair share of beer in the tavern. I looked towards Adrien to see if he was a bit back to normal, but his face was still as stone and his eyes still wouldn’t meet mine. _This is really hard…_

“I see, that’s a funny name, sounds a bit more fitting for happy drunk people.” His voice back to the monotonous tone. _Damn it!_ “So, your mother works there? Are we meeting her soon?”

“Yeah, sure! I’ll take you to meet her, but later.” I started walking towards my house. “First, her, then my mother. Come on, it’s this way, in ‘Drunkard’s road’, actually. It’s not that far.” I turned, smiling, to look at Adrien and didn’t find him behind me. He had walked past me and was already heading to ‘Drunkard’s’ ahead of me. “Hey, Adrien wait! I’ll guide you.” I said running behind him.

* * *

“Here we are! Welcome to my humble abode, oh great mage!” I said while bowing towards Adrien and signaling with my arms towards my house. A not to big, not to small, two floored, wooden house. Our door a little bit worn out; the outside color darker than it originally was because of the dirt that sometimes stuck in rain season. Yet, the green plants in the front and the perfectly clean windows showed that my family did took care of our little home.

I raised my head to look at Adrien’s face, not moving from my bowing position. The first thing I noticed was his wide eyes full of a mixture of shock and surprise.

“Uhm… Adrien?” I said, standing normally, a bit afraid of his reaction.

“This is your house…? Didn’t you say we were meeting your special someone?!” Adrien said more bewildered than I initially expected. I was starting to become nervous.

“Yeah… that’s why I brought you here. To introduce her to you.” I said slowly, as if trying to avoid triggering a trap.

“She lives with you??!” Adrien said more exalted than before.

“Of course she lives with me, where else would she live?!” I said back just as bewildered and confused as Adrien now.

I could see Adrien take a deep breath, possibly calming his nerves. He then relaxed and the shock was erased from his face, back to the impassive façade he had been wearing for a while now.

“Ok then, let’s go inside.” Adrien said, impassive and emotionless. _It hurts…_

“Yeah, sure, let’s go.” I opened the door and guided Adrien inside, to sit in one of our scarce chairs and offered him (in vain) a glass of water. Since Adrien was now seated, I decided to call her already, hoping she hadn’t gone outside today. “Juleka! I’m home!” I shouted loud enough to be heard in the house second floor. “Juleka!! You there?!”

“Wait Juleka?!” Adrien stood up, again filled with shock. _I swear I don’t understand you!_

Then I heard quick steps coming from above us and then from the stairs. I reflexively opened my arms expecting the incoming tackle. She then came inside the room and jumped into my arms. All my worries about Adrien’s mood were now gone with my sister here in my arms, I spined her around a couple of times and then I let her go down from my hug. My laugh still full of joy of watching my sister alive and well.

She then calmed down, stopped laughing and moved her bangs behind her ear, her usual small smile plastered in her normally serious face. “Welcome back, Luka.” She said in her almost toneless voice which I have come to relate to the warmth of home.

“I’m back, Juleka.” I said full of emotions, a small tear flowing from my right eye. I wiped the tear away and then took a deep breath to calm down.

“Wait! So, your special person you were talking about is Juleka, your sister??!” Adrien suddenly said in an almost shout full of surprise.

I turned towards him, confusion now clearly plastered in my face. _Because seriously what’s the big surprise now?!_ I tilted my head slightly to show even more my confusion and watched how Adrien’s face slowly turned pinkish.

“Adrien are you ok? Your face got red all of a sudden. Are you sure you don’t want some water? Maybe it’s the heat getting to you, with that robe of yours.”

“Nonono I, I… I’m fine, Luka. Thanks, I was just surprised I suppose.” Adrien said rubbing the back of his neck. _C_ _ute as always._ His color turning back to normal.

“Hm?” I said still confused.

“Oh! Surprised because… because you two are so alike! Yeah, you really are brother and sister.” Adrien said laughing a little bit awkwardly.

“Oh yeah, Jules and I are almost like twins!” I grabbed Juleka by her waist and brought her to stand besides me. With my free hand I grabbed her cheeks causing her face to look annoyed. _I love it when she pouts._

“I mean we have dark raven hair; we are both good-looking as heck, and enjoy the gift of having charming smiles, see?” I said with a bragging tone while using my hand to move Juleka’s lips into a smile and smiling myself towards Adrien. Enjoying the feeling of messing with my little sister after such a long while. “We would be identical if not for our eye color, but hey, that doesn’t make us less siblings, right Jules?”

“Let me go already, you dummy.” Juleka said in a vice that everyone would call monotonous but in which I recognized her happiness and a bit hint of annoyance. Then I looked at Adrien’s face and saw him blush again. I let go of Juleka and moved towards Adrien, putting my forehead against his, checking to see if he had a fever.

“Uhm… Luka? What are you doing?” Adrien said, his voice trembling a little.

“I’m checking to see if you have a fever, your face turned red again, and with the way you were behaving since we left the Elder’s house, I’m really worried you could have gotten sick.” I said still unsure if Adrien’s face was feeling warm or not.

“Ok, ok, let him breath, Luka. You are doing it again.” Juleka said as she grabbed my shirt and pulled me back. “I’m sorry, my brother tends to ignore personal space once he feels close with someone. What surprises me though, is that he already feels like that towards you… Who is he, Luka?”

“Right, sorry, Jules. Adrien, this is my sister, Juleka, although you already knew her, some way or another. Jules, this is my new friend, Adrien, it’s thanks to him that you are cured now!” I said taking both of their hands in mine and then joining them in a handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Juleka. Your brother has told me about you, and about how special you are to him. I’m really glad to finally meet you in person!” Adrien said smiling, emotion back in his voice, the air around him once again sunny and breezy. _F_ _inally, I really missed that._

“Nice to meet you too Adrien. Hey! Is that a staff there?!” Juleka said looking behind Adrien, towards his gray staff.

“Yeah, that’s his staff. I forgot to mention, Adrien is sort of the Sage’s apprentice (well the Sage but, secrets) so he is actually a mage. You see Adrien, Jules here is sort of a fanatic when it comes to everything magic related.” I said as I saw Juleka looking with shiny eyes at Adrien’s staff.

“Really? Do you want to look at it closer?” Adrien said happily.

“Can I?!” Juleka said with more emotion that I have heard in months.

“Sure, here you go.” Adrien said as he handed his staff to Juleka for her to examine.

“Uhm… Adrien is that safe? She won’t explode us or something right?” I said nervously looking at Juleka immersed in memorizing every detail of Adrien’s staff. He then chuckled. _O_ _h Gods his laugh, I missed that too._

“Don’t worry, Luka. Mage’s staff are only sort of a channeling instrument for mages. It can’t do magic by itself. Even if Juleka had a talent for magic, another mage has to wake it up before she is able to use it.”

“Talent for magic?!!” Juleka interrupted shamelessly. “I could have talent for magic?!” Now this was actually the most emotionally engaged I have seen her in a conversation ever.

“Of course! The reason why there are a low number of mages is because you need another mage to wake up a new one. The mage draws out the latent power from inside people with the potential, but since we don’t have the means to find people with the potential, other mages only focus in trying the sons and daughters of noble families.”

“Does that mean that you could be able to check if I have the potential?” Juleka said, excitement now overflowing her words. _“Which in this case implies reaching a normal person’s level of excitement”_

“Sure, I could check both of yours. What do you think, Luka?” Adrien said looking to my eyes with a smile in his face, and I let go of the tension I didn’t notice I was still holding inside my body. Then I smiled back at him.

“I would be honored, my mage.” I said teasingly to him. “But first…” I turned to Juleka, with a fake glare, trying to hide my smile. “Juleka, we have to be nice to our visitors! How could you be so inconsiderate?! It’s our duty to give our honorable guest a tour around town.”

“Oh! I would be honored to be guided by you, brave knight, in a sight-seeing travel throughout this beautiful zone of flourishing establishments.” Adrien answered with a smirk in his face and the same teasing tone I had used before.

“Both of you are so weird.” Juleka said, back to her monotonous attitude. “Well, in that case I’ll see you later. Go and take your weird and dramatic friend, to your weird and dramatic tour.” She then started heading to the stairs. “Oh! And, Luka, don’t forget to introduce him to mom, ok?” I nodded at her. Once she was upstairs already, she shouted. “And you better be available to turn me into a mage tomorrow, Adrien!” Making Adrien and me chuckle.

“She is a really nice girl.” Adrien said looking towards the stairs while going to pick his staff from where Juleka left it out of shock.

“Yeah, I really love my sister. I love my mom too, but since I spent most of my time with Juleka, she is the most special to me. That’s why I wanted you to meet her first!” I stepped closer to Adrien and rested a hand on his shoulder, my sight still focused on the stairs where Juleka had been just now.

“She is here thanks to you. I wouldn’t have been able to hug her, or tease her, or see her so excited about magic if it wasn’t for you, Adrien.” I turned him once he had put his staff in his back again. Then I put both of my hands in his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eye.

“No matter what I payed to you back in the temple, it will never be enough to express how grateful I am to you. I don’t care if you say that I already thanked you enough, because, for her, for what you did, it will never be enough.” Then I hugged Adrien, and after a little I felt him starting to hug back. We stood there hugging for a while until Adrien finally broke the hug.

“I guess Juleka was right huh?” He said his cheeks sprinkled with a small amount of pink dust. “You do are a physical person.” Adrien said as he started laughing. I felt a blush starting to creep in my cheeks and I looked downwards, scratching my head in embarrassment.

“Hehe, sorry. If it makes you uncomfortable, just let me know ok?” I said shyly, after which I felt Adrien grabbing my free hand with both of his.

“It doesn’t bother me at all, Luka.” Adrien said, with a _n angelic_ smile on his face. “I’m glad that Juleka told me you are like this with me because you feel close to me. It makes me feel special. So, thank you for being my friend, and for treating me so nicely.” Adrien said smiling towards the floor, I could see the blush in his face. I lowered my other hand and placed it in Adrien’s. Both of our hands now entangled in a weird hand hug, but in that moment, I couldn’t think about it. My mind was busy thinking about the boy in front of me. The unnaturally cute, handsome, and adorable boy that was blushing in front of me… _Wait what?!_

I let go of Adrien’s hands and walked towards the kitchen. “I’m going to take some water, do you want some, Adrien?”

“Yes please!” Adrien squeaked, still unmoving from when I left him standing.

“We should get going after this, we have to make use of the daylight for the tour.” I said as I handed the glass of water to Adrien, before drinking of mine. The air around us a little bit warm, but unsure, as if surrounded by doubt and awkwardness.

“Yeah, we should get going.” Adrien said, still looking to the floor, but this time his voice sounded a lot more emotional, dispelling my fear that he was back to the dark mood from before.

“Ok, then.” I moved to leave my glass in the kitchen and turned towards the door. “Let’s go then.” Adrien then followed my instruction and directed himself through the front door.

“Uhm… Adrien.” I called to him, and he almost tripped at the mention of his name. He turned, his face a little blushed, but this time I ignored it, he probably blushes easily.

“Yes, Luka? What is it?” He said a little bit bewildered.

“I kinda need to leave the glass inside the house.” I said chuckling lightly while pointing to the glass in Adrien’s hands. His face then started to look like it would bring shame to tomatoes, and I just started laughing. _I’m glad he is back._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo that's it for today. My dumb boys being dumb as always, yet still trying to unfold the world laid before them. I know I'm actually taking a reeeeeeally long time doing that "tour around town" but I just can't stop writing about something else!!! I know it's my fault but, come on!! Don't we all go through this? I mean, There are many ideas in my brain it's not my fault they come out in so many wordsXD  
> Anyway, after trying to defend the fact that my story hasn't progressed even one day... I hope you liked this chapter c: I did it with the intention of introducing a little bit of the weird mechanic between Adrien and Luka, as well as giving Juleka (who will be an important character) properly, as she deserves.  
> I hope I'm not boring you, guys :'c   
> Anyways, thanks for reading all of you, and as always if you have any corrections with my writing (please) write them in the comments, and I'll do my best to fix them.
> 
> Oh! Right! For those of you who haven't understood yet. Luka has two trains of thought so I indicate them accordingly. His thought, the ones that he processes and actually controls are in italics and quoted (Just like Adrien's thoughts). The thoughts he has impulsively or that he can't actually control (or that he doesn't even notice he is thinking) are normally short phrases or even single words in italics that just appear here and there.  
> Little bit of explanation in case it began confusing someone, hehe, sorry, it's just that it has a meaning that he has two of those.


	7. A kind of warmth I had forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy and the mage meet the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Ello beautiful human beings, how are you all doing? Well here I am bringing another chapter to this thing. Also, I would like to announce, I have no idea how long this will become._. I seriously don't know. I mean I have the outline, but after noticing that in chapter 7 I still haven't "constructing" the world completely, I'm unable to give a number. Actually that makes me anxious-w-' But anyways, I don't care! And if you don't either, join me in this long story whose end I really can't see:D
> 
> On another note, last chapter raised the hits over 500 so *insert happy dance here* Thank you all so much for that, luv u all<3

Adrien’s POV

After leaving his house, Luka took me to a stroll around the village. He introduced me to the places he visited the most, a small store where his family bought the daily necessities, the plaza where a lot of cart vendors stood, and the inn we passed earlier that apparently doubled as a type of restaurant in the first floor.

“Well, and that’s about it. The rest of the buildings you see here are mostly houses for the other families.”

“Really? A small shop, an inn, four big buildings in the center, and a plaza full of carts?” Disappointment in my voice after the long awaited resulted in just visiting two buildings. “You hyped me up for nothing.” I said now faking annoyance in my voice and turning away from Luka while hiding a smirk, and glancing towards him.

“Well sorry for not living inside one of the 13 kingdoms” Luka said as he rolled his eyes and crossing his arms. “Maybe you want to go visit Tully again, I’m plenty sure she could peck your nose again while we are at it.” Then he started pouting.

I laughed lightly at Luka’s face. “Oh, calm down, Luka. I’m just kid…Wait 13 kingdoms!? What are you even talking about?” I said actually surprised.

“Yeah you know, the main thirteen cities they are right at the center of the continent. They control such a big territory, and their cities are so big that they were called the 13 kingdoms. Wait, you don’t know about these things? What happened to the ‘I learned about it all back in my free time on the temple’?” Luka said with a bad imitation on a voice that now had me pouting.

“Ok, first of all, I don’t sound like that! And second, I’m sure that I asked the temple to keep me updated in geographical and political knowledge, it’s impossible that I didn’t know about this!” I answered actually wondering if this village information was far outdated than I expected.

“Well, since the village doesn’t have any sort of school or library, we owe all our knowledge to elder Fu. His house doubles as a kind of school were kids go until they gain the necessary knowledge to survive on their own, mostly reading, writing and basic arithmetic.” Luka explains as we begin walking back to the main plaza.

“Even then you can keep going to him to receive education on other subjects, for example, I went to him when I got interested in music, he even gifted me my lyre when he came back from one of his trips. Some of the others just decided to carry on with their parents’ job and stopped attending completely after basic education.”

_“So that’s were it came from… I was wondering why I didn’t saw any store selling instruments.”_

“You could go and meet him again, ask about the kingdoms.” Luka continued speaking while we walked past the plaza towards Elder’s street. “He may not look like it, but he is actually pretty wise, knows about everything you could think about, heck I bet he could compete with your temple in terms of knowledge.” Luka chuckled a little while I hummed.

_“He did seem to know more than he showed. He asked about my name after all… Maybe I do have to pay him another visit later.”_

“Well last stop.” Luka said bringing my attention back to reality.

“What? Oh right! I remember seeing this place when we first arrived. I actually forgot about it.” I said looking to a place with a large anvil, a furnace and a middle-aged man hammering a piece of metal.

“Hey! Uncle Ez, guess who’s back!” Luka shouted while walking towards the man. I almost decided to follow him until the man pointed his big hammer towards Luka, and my boiling blood decided it was best to take out my staff and point at him.

“Stop right there, old man!” I shouted to the man threatening Luka, prepared to destroy him and his house if he dared to hurt him.

“Woah! Calm down Adrien!” Luka said as he turned towards me with his hands in front of him as if to calm me. “Uncle Ez is a nice person, and he would neeeeeevr hit me with his hammer…again” Luka said with a sigh.

“I wouldn’t have hit you if you hadn’t decided to steal my newest creations and played with them in the river near the forest.” The old man said as he glared towards Luka.

“Oh, come on, that’s water under the bridge now, uncle.” Luka said turning once again towards the man glaring at him. While I didn’t trust the man that much, I still decided to put my staff back in its place.

“Besides, I didn’t hit you so hard. You just had a little bump in the head, it’s not my fault you were such a cry baby about it.” The old man huffed.

“I was 8 and you a giant with a hammer as big as my head back then! I could have died, old man!!” Luka shouted at the man with full alarm in his voice, moving closer to poke the man’s chest with his finger, and looking upwards to the man’s face

“Well you were a brat back then and you are still a brat, you brat!!! You have been the cause of more headaches than my own wife!!” The man said shouting downwards to Luka’s face, a vein jumping in his forehead as he practically barked at Luka.

The exchange scared me so, that I could actually imagine Luka being smashed by the man that easily towered him by two heads height. Then out of nowhere both of them started laughing and the man patted Luka a bit strongly in his back.

_“So… is this man trustful or not. Both of them are getting nowhere.”_

“I’m glad you are back boy; you are the only one with the spunk that this town’s kids need nowadays. I suppose you came to bring me back the sword I lend you?” The old man said as he extended his hand.

“Yup, here you go, as good as new.” Luka said as he took of the scabbard and the sword from his belt. The old man then proceeded to check the sword meticulously.

“Did you even use this thing, you brat?” The old man said, a small tease in his eyes as he glanced to Luka.

“Weeeell you know me, old man. I prefer not to use violence after all. I did meet a pack of wolves in the way, but I ran instead.” Luka said as he chuckled and scratched his head.

“The only boy who ever dared to learn swordsmanship from me, and he ends up a pacifist.” The old man huffed. “Now that’s on me for scaring my old students.”

“Well uncle, actually according to someone…” Luka glanced towards me. “I still can’t handle the sword that well, anyways.”

“Of course not! You came here one day and expect me to teach you perfectly in a week?! You’ll have to come back form more lessons, brat.” The man said as he walked to a rack filled with weapons and stored Luka’s sword there. “If you still dare that is. Wouldn’t want you to hurt your little pride by leaving you beat in your training, again.” The man said, trying to taunt Luka.

“Oh, you are on, old bastard! I’ll come back and show you that I’ll kick your giant ass one day!” Luka said a fire in his voice that I hadn’t seen before.

_“Wow, I didn’t know Luka could be this intense with someone. He looks so cool right now, I could definitely imagine him handling a sword like a handsome knight from the stories… Wait, handsome?!”_

I shook my head aggressively, trying to withdraw from my thoughts, which seemed to bring Luka’s attention back to me.

“Oh right, Uncle Ez, this is my new friend, Adrien, he is the Sage’s apprentice, and will be staying with us for some time.” Luka grabbed my arm and guided me to stand in front of the man. “Adrien, this is the town blacksmith, as well as the only swordsman in here, Ezra.” I looked upwards to the man that could easily step on me because of the size difference. I gulped and shily extended my hand to the man.

“I-It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” The man took my hand and almost crushed it with his grip, while I bit my tongue to suppress the yelp I was probably about to shout.

“Hmm, good to meet you, boy. You surprised me with your anger and courage back then. I could actually imagine you attacking me for a moment. Are you interested in learning the way of the sword?” The man, Ezra, said to me after letting go of my hand, which I started massaging behind my back to alleviate the pain.

“Ehm… no sir, thank you. I’m actually already a mage, and I trained to use my staff as a blunt weapon as well. Swords are not my kind of thing.”

“Wait, so you use that staff to cast magic, AND to beat stuff? You really are full of surprises, huh?” Luka said as a small light shone from his eyes while looking at me.

“Well if you are so prepared, then maybe you could help me to train this numbskull over here.” Ezra said as he patted Luka’s shoulder. “He needs a sparring partner. That girl from the bakery is good, but she is busy most of the time.”

“I could help with his training; I don’t really mind!” I say excitedly at the idea of being able to train and spar with Luka.

“That’s the spirit right there boy!” The man now ~~slapping~~ patting my back, almost making me fall. “See here, brat? This is the excitement men show when speaking of fighting!” Ezra started laughing loudly.

“All right all right, Uncle Ez. That’s enough you are gonna break his back.” Luka chuckles as he grabs me from the shoulders and moves me from the man’s reach.

“Sorry, kiddo. I don’t really know my own physical strength, I’m a bit big as you may have noticed.” Ezra said as he crosses his arms, a grin still in his face.

“No problem sir.” I smile awkwardly as I rub my back with the hand that wasn’t crushed before.

“Well, we gotta go. I’ll come back later for more lessons. See ya, old man.” Luka said grabbing my unhurt hand and waving to Ezra with his other hand. Then he guided me away towards the plaza.

“You ok, Adrien? I know he can be a little rough when he is happy.” Luka said letting go of my hand and turning to look at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine I’m fine, don’t worry. I was just a little taken aback from his sudden change in attitude.” I laughed shortly, still feeling my back sore but my hand back to normal.

“I get what you mean, with that build and his voice, Uncle Ez can look a little bit menacing, but he is actually a pretty nice man. Maybe a little bit to obsessed with swords and fighting, but apart from that, just a nice guy.” Luka said as we resumed walking.

The sky had already started going dark and the streets were only illuminated by the lights of the buildings lining them. Back at the plaza the carts had all left and the center of the plaza was adorned with four lamps that now illuminated the place.

“Anyways, what do you think about going back to my house. I think that it’s already time for my mother to be back. We could have dinner.” Luka reassumed talking.

“Sure, I would love to meet your mother.” I say smiling towards him. “Besides, I’m really hungry right now.” I say noticing the emptiness in my stomach.

“Well then, allow me to guide you my mage.” Luka said as he bowed dramatically and offered me his hand, earning a small laugh from me.

“You are and idiot, you know?” I say as I take Luka’s hand.

“Of course I know.” Luka said as he winked at me, my face feeling warm for some reason.

We both walked hand in hand to Luka’s house making small talk. Standing outside I noticed the smell of food and my mouth started watering immediately. Luka then opened the door and guided me inside.

“Hey mom, I’m back!” Luka said as soon as we entered his home.

“Welcome back my boy!” A woman exclaimed from the kitchen. She then turned towards us with a towel in hand as if cleaning herself. “How was your…Luka, my son, don’t tell me you finally found the right one!” His mother exclaimed excitedly. I turn my head to a side in confusion, while taking note of his mother’s appearance. She looked a lot like both of her kids, the main difference being she had gray hair, and a chubbier face, but those eyes, were definitely Luka’s, the same beautiful blue.

“What do you me…” Luka interrupted his own sentence and looked towards our hands that were still joined, and quickly let go of it. I looked towards him and noticed the blush in his face. “Ma! It’s not like that! Adrien is a friend, okay? A friend! Didn’t Juleka tell you?!” Luka shouted at his mother, who now looked as confused as me.

“Oh…I could have sworn…I mean you look so good together, but well if you say so.” His mother shrugged and Luka hit his forehead with his hand in frustration. I was still confused at Luka’s reaction but decided to ignore the fact.

“Anyways, Adrien, this is my mother, Anarka.” Luka said with his hand still in his face, while signaling his mother with his free hand, still flustered. “Mother, this is my friend, Adrien, some things happened back at the temple, and to save Juleka, I agreed to take care of him from now on.”

“Hello, ma’am.” I say with a smile stretching my hand towards her, offering a handshake.

“Nice to meet you, blondie! Thank you for taking part in saving my daughter, I heard from old man Fu the details.” The woman said as she shook my hand. “But don’t call me ma’am boy, you can call me Anarka.” She said grinning, and then glancing at Luka. “And, well since you’ll be staying with us, I suppose you don’t have a problem staying with Luka, we don’t really have free rooms in here.” Anarka said while stealing glances at Luka who was behind me. A child like grin in her face.

“If Luka doesn’t mind.” I turn towards him and see him covering his face with both his hands. “I mean, I could go and stay in the inn, or ask the elder if he has room in his house, or something if you don’t want to!” I say flustered.

_“He probably hadn’t thought he would share with me. Is he disgusted? Fed up with my presence already? If he had to spend so much time with me daily, I bet he would hate me. Or does he already hate me?! Oh no oh no oh no.”_

“No, Adrien, it’s ok” His voice pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. “I was actually aware that you would be sleeping with me while you stayed with us, don’t worry.” Luka said, a small smile in his face as he looked at me, his cheeks still lightly pink.

“Well then that’s that, blondie. You heard him! You’ll be staying with him, and now that that’s fixed, Luka, go bring your sister, and leave that bag in your room! It’s time to eat. Adrien, boy, come and sit here with me! Tell me about your travel here with Luka while we wait.” Anarka said as she signaled to a table next to the kitchen and sat in one of the four chairs, prompting me to take the one in front of her.

“I’ll be right back.” Luka said as he climbed the stairs.

I took my staff from my back and sat in the chair Luka’s mom told me. Resting my staff in my lap while I stood there sitting.

“Come on boy! Tell me! How did you two meet?” Anarka asked, excitement in her eyes.

“Well, it all started back in the Sage’s temple…”

I began explaining the events surrounding my meeting with Luka to his mother, avoiding the fact that I was the Sage. When Luka and his sister came down the stairs and sat at the table, Luka besides me and his sister in front of her. Anarka stood up to serve the food but encouraged me keep talking, so I continued speaking about the way back here. Luka interrupted me every once in a while, to add his own comments, mostly about me or something I did that he considered ‘incredible’. Between laughs, food, and Luka’s family reactions while eating, I began feeling at peace, like part of a family.

“…and when we entered the village this damned chicken…”

“Adrien! Are you ok?!” Luka said unsure, his worried eyes looking directly at me.

“Yeah, why?” I asked dumbfounded.

“You are crying.” Juleka said, worry in her eyes as well.

“What?” I took my hand to my face, feeling tears streaming from my eyes, and I chuckled unwillingly. “What? Haha, why am I crying?! This is so weird!” I said between chuckles, but my tears still not showing any sign of stopping soon. Then my laugh started becoming sobs, I started crying fully now. “It’s just that… this is so nice… I missed the feeling of home… the warmth of a dinner with family.” I say between sobs and hiccups.

Luka stood up and hugged me in my chair, my head resting in his shoulder.

“I’m so…I’m so sorry… haha I don’t know why… I’m so thankful but I can’t stop crying.” I say trying to wipe my tears with the sleeves of my robe.

“Hey, Adrien.” Luka started saying with a calm voice, right beside my ear. “It’s okay, you can cry, I’ll be here for you. We are here now.”

With those words I started wailing. I hugged back Luka and buried my face in his shoulder. Then I felt another pair of arms hugging me.

“Let it all out, my boy. Let it out.” Anarka said hugging me from behind the chair, trapping both Luka and I in her embrace.

“It’s okay Adrien.” I feel a slender hand on my shoulder. “I know another wimp who also likes to start crying out of nowhere.” Juleka said chuckling lightly while patting my shoulder.

“Hey Jules, shut up.” Luka said with a hint of annoyance, but I could feel him smiling at his sister, which made me laugh as well.

“Thank you” Was all I could say before I just let myself enjoy the embrace. The warmth of a family, that even if it wasn’t mine, received me kindly.

After a while I had calmed down, and everyone went to their seats to finish dinner. Luka glanced my way every once in a while, and each time our eyes met, he would smile at me.

When we finished dinner, I watched as the family cleaned the dishes and cutlery, they had small talk between them, sometimes laughing, sometimes pushing one another. I couldn’t help but smile at the scene. Then Anarka and Juleka, said good night to me and gave Luka a kiss in the cheek before heading upstairs to their rooms.

“You have to teach me how to do the dishes like you all did.” I said to Luka, he chuckled

“All right, whatever you wish, Adrien.” The mention of my name, although unnecessary made me feel warm inside.

_“This is a type of feeling I hope to never forget”_

Luka and I where preparing to go upstairs as well, but then a knock at the door surprised us. According to Luka it still wasn’t midnight, but it wasn’t early enough for people to be paying visits.

Luka went to open the door and to our surprise the elder was there.

“Good evening, Luka, Adrien.” He turned to me directly. “I’ve come here to talk with you about something, young mage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's about it. For those who are here for Lukadrien, I try to give, I swear, but I don't really want them to establish a relation so soon in the story, so it'll probably come across as a slow burn. (Even with all those sappy scenes where both of them are being shy and/or oblivious.)
> 
> So, as always, thank you all for blessing this mess with your beautiful eyes which we don't deserve-,w- I hope you are enjoying this and if you don't, you are definitely invited to tell me for anything you might wish to see in here. Oh! By the way, if anything in the grammar/spelling makes you angry because of how bad it is, leave me a comment, I'll try to correct it as soon as possible.  
> Thank you for reading :3


	8. History, secrets and tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys accompany the elder to a history lesson in his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people, I am here to say: I'm not dead yet!!!! I didn't intend to take so much to publish this chapter, but I had a series of unfortunate events (yes, like the book) which included a lot of work from uni and having to take care of my parents, so I really didn't have time to write this chapter, but today I finally could make som time and wrote not one, but TWO!! I'll upload this one right now and the next one tomorrow or maybe on Monday. Anyways, to those who left their kudos, I love you so effing much and I hope you got a really nice present in these holidays^w^  
> For those who actually commented, I love you even more and I will personally give you a present for the holidays if I ever meet you I swere, you guys are the best <3 
> 
> Anywaaaays, I won't extend anymore, enjoy!! c:

Luka’s POV

Elder Fu stood in front of our door, still looking at Adrien intently, my blond friend still watching him unresponsive, _probably surprised_. “Uhm would you like to come inside?” I say moving sideways to leave space for him to pass.

“Actually, I would talk to speak with Adrien in private.” He turned towards my friend and spoke. “Will you be so kind as to follow me back to my home for a moment?”

I was weirded out by the elder’s request, but considering it was him asking, he probably wanted to talk about something important. I looked at Adrien, his eyes were now squinted, as if focusing on elder Fu, trying to read his mind. “ _Can he do that? Read minds?_ ”

“Well if you need to g…” I felt Adrien taking my forearm while I tried to turn and leave upstairs.

“Whatever you need to talk with me…” Adrien spoke rather vigorously. “…Luka needs to hear as well. That’s my condition to go with you.” His eyes piercing at Elder’s own calm eyes and lazy smile.

“ _Okaaaay, I think I’m missing something here. Adrien knows what the elder wants to talk about?”_

I look at Adrien’s grip in my forearm and then at the sparks flowing from his eyes towards the elder. So, I take the hand grabbing my arm with my own and intertwine our fingers, my surprised expression hidden with a calm _but fake_ smile as I turn back to the door. “You heard him, if he is going, I’m going to.” I smile back at the elder, hoping my façade was as good as I imagined it.

The elder smile then grew. “Alright, I was expecting you to say that. But you boys still need to come to my house, we can’t talk here.” He then turned expecting us to follow him.

I began walking when I felt Adrien squeeze my hand lightly, both of us still holding each other. “Thank you…” It was all Adrien said while looking to the floor, then he rose his head and smiled at me _That beautiful smile again_ and let go of my hand to follow Fu to his house.

I stood there in my door mesmerized with the memory of Adrien’s ~~warm~~ smile until I react. I quickly shut my door and start running behind both of the men that went ahead.

* * *

We had gone inside the parlor where I introduced Adrien to the elder, our shoes once again in the entrance of said room. Adrien and I were sitting next to one another, the elder was sitting in front of us while serving us tea from a small black pot I had never seen before into tiny cups. He passed the cups to us and I took a sip of mine, while Adrien just kept staring at the elder.

“Now before we begin, I will show you something, young mage.” The elder took the pot from which he served us the tea and showed us the side that was facing him before. The teapot had an intricate red design in the face that was facing the elder. It looked like a circle with a 12-sided figure with another circle in its center. The smaller circle was cut in half, one of which was white, contrasting immensely with the rest of the pot.

I obviously had no idea what the elder was talking about but once I looked at Adrien’s face, the surprise was evident on his face.

“Wait you…the symbol of the Empire?” Adrien began saying before he was interrupted by elder Fu, who rose his hand in a sign to stop talking. My eyes were just travelling from one to another, clearly confused of what they were talking.

“Adrien, how many brothers and sisters did the Empress had?” “ _The who now?!”_

“Five, she had five brothers and sisters. Along with her twelve knights, these eighteen people created the empire and established peace across the land.” Adrien stated serious to the elder.

“Wait what?!” I look stunned at the blond, my eyes once again travelling from one man to the other. The elder’s face now serious as if analyzing Adrien’s answer. _“What in the name of the Gods is going on?? Empress?”_

“Who are you?” Adrien finally asked to Fu, his eyes relaxing from their opposing demeanor, now showing confusion and tiredness. I follow Adrien’s stare to the older man and with as much if not more confusion than the blond I await the elder to answer as well.

“My name is Wang Fu, I am a great great-grandson of the 2nd brother of the Empress, Wayzz, the protector.” The elder said as he knelt on his left leg and reverenced at Adrien. “Master Adrien Athanase, it’s a pleasure to meet you after all these years.” My mind went blank.

_“Wait, so the elder knows Adrien?! But Adrien didn’t know who he was when they met! And what is that about master?! Is Adrien someone important? What is going on?!!”_

“I feared that was the case…” Adrien said as he stood up and grabbed his staff. “At rest, Wang Fu. Right now, I am just Adrien my second name has no power, and if you are who you claim to be, you know that. Let’s go back to talking casually... please?” His eyes pleading with sadness at the request.

“Very well, boy. I can do that.” Fu said as he sat down normally once again, with Adrien following him and his shoulders slumping once he was in the floor again. _He looks exhausted…_

Feeling completely out of the loop I dared to speak and get my questions answered. “Excuse me, what is going on?” I said, raising my hand like when I used to take classes with Marinette here at the elder’s house.

“Should I explain it to him?” The elder said to Adrien who was staring at the floor. He nodded his head lightly, almost imperceptibly.

“Alright then.” The older man cleared his throat and began talking:

“Hundreds of years ago this continent was drowned in chaos. People robbed, kidnapped, assaulted… murdered, without any type of control. Leaders of different groups constantly fought one another for control over the lands, the livestock, even the people. It was really terrible, the whole territory was in dispute, until one day they appeared: the Empress and her group. The Empress was a young girl who decided to put an end to the constant war and harm, along with her older brothers and sisters, and their twelve friends who swore to give their lives to protect her, she travelled the lands in the search for unity and reconciliation. Sometimes the conflict had to be solved trough conflict, some others, negotiation, and dialogue were a better weapon, sometimes she… well she determined it was better to begin anew, in a clean slate…” At these words, the elder looked rather grim. Then he continued.

“The Empress and her companions were great warriors and mages, which wasn’t as weird back then, people had greater magic power and education in it that nowadays. After 7 years of constant fighting, the Empress had gained many followers, her words of peace and equality brought together the benevolent souls, and finally established what would be later known as the Empire. She was named Empress by the voice of the people who revered her as the savior of the land, unifier of the continent, and so peace was born.”

“So…” I began. “You are saying that you are great grandson of one of the Empress’ knights? But you said yourself that that was hundreds of years ago!! You would be really old, like waaaay older than I thought, even if you are the great-grandson that’s just 5 generations!!” I shouted surprised at the elder, almost standing on my feet out of shock.

The elder chuckled. “Why thank you for saying I look younger than I appear. But I am indeed really old, precisely 586 years old. I dare say that I’m the longest-lived person in my bloodline.”

_“How the heck is he so old?? It can’t be possible right? He must be kidding, yeah that must be it, this is a joke!”_

“So you are great-uncle Wayzz descendant…” Adrien finally spoke coming out of his stupor. _Wait great uncle?_

“Indeed, I am, and I also know who you are. Do you want me to tell that part of the story as well, young mage?” Elder Fu said at Adrien, who was still looking at the floor.

“No…” He raised his head and looked at the older man, the light in his eyes turning dimmer. “I will tell him myself.” He then turned his body to face me completely at which I also did the same, preparing to hear something important, I look at Adrien’s eyes, and he then began speaking, resuming the elder’s story.

“The Empress and her family lived in the heart of the Empire, right at the middle of the continent. One day, while walking through the streets of the Empire in disguise, she met a man, whom she fell in love with. After years of courting, they both got married, and conceived a pair of beautiful twins; one a girl with hair as raven feathers, and the other, a boy with hair kissed by the rays of sun. Both children shone with the great power of magic, even when being less than a day old, the twins had enough power to rival most of the adults in the Empire. The whole Empire rejoiced at the notice of the Empress’ heirs being born, but something went wrong. The Empress was feeling unwell after giving birth to the twins, the magicians in the Empire all tried to cure her unwellness, but at the seventh day, she perished…” Adrien then slumped his head, and looked at the floor once again.

“Since the Empress was gone, her husband was declared the reigning emperor until the twins were of age, when they would both take care of their mother’s Empire. And so they did, the boy and the girl turned into adults, and were named emperors, with the condition that the heirs to the throne would be a magic bearing child from each of them, so the Empire would always be commanded by the ‘Twin Emperors’ as the people had baptized them. Years passed and both twins reigned with intelligence and benevolence, the whole Empire loved them, especially their spouses, and one day, the Twin Emperors celebrated their weddings. Then it began, unexpected, the curse of the heirs that plagued the descendants of the Twin Emperors. The woman gave birth to a girl just like hair, raven haired, and powerful, but even when trying to have another child, she was unable to, her womb barren. The man’s wife gave birth to a boy just like him, but without magic power to call his own, seeing this, the man tried to conceive another child with his wife, and so they did. A second child was born to the male twin, this time, the blond hair came along with a power rivaling the man’s, but like his mother, the Empress, the man’s wife died seven days after the child’s birth. To mark him as the son rightful heir to the throne, the second son was given a second name, unlike his older brother. Eventually the kids grew, and the girl succeeded her mother, and the second son, who had magic in his veins and a second name, succeeded his father, the first son taking on the role of advisor for both successors.” I heard something tap the floor. A wet round spot directly under Adrien’s face. _A tear…_

“That’s when the people began spreading the rumor.” Adrien continued. “The girl could only bring a single girl to the world, while the boy could bring children as long as they don’t have magic, if they did, the mothers giving birth to them would perish at the seventh day. This is the curse of the Empress’ bloodline, the curse of the Twin Emperors…” His eyes were now flowing with tears, all of them forming a small lake in the floor.

I stood up and knelt in front of Adrien and hugged him tight. _“Even if I don’t know exactly why he is sad, I don’t want to see him like this anymore.”_ I kept hugging a silent but teary Adrien, he didn’t hug back, but I refused to let go.

“At least…” Elder Fu spoke again. “That is how the curse should have gone, right?” I felt Adrien tense at this.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I rest Adrien’s head in my shoulder.

“Adrien, do you wish to tell him?” Fu asked, at which I felt Adrien shake his head violently and grab my shirt tightly.

“I understand.” Fu cleared his throat once again and began. “On the fourth generation of the Empress bloodline, something strange happened, the third-generation male emperor an older brother as well, Gabriel, he, and his brother the emperor, married a couple of sisters from a well-known family in the empire, and when it came time to have their first-borns, two children with blond hair were born, one with magic and another without, but it was not as originally thought. The boy with magic, was born to Gabriel, to the older and magic-less brother, while the emperor and his wife had a magic-less boy, something that was unprecedent with the other generations, and when they knew of this, Gabriel immediately feared the worst for his wife, Emilie. Finally, just as Gabriel had feared, seven days after giving birth, Emilie died, leaving behind the boy who according to the law left by the ancestors, was to become the next emperor instead of his magic-less cousin. The actual emperor tried having other children, but he was unable to, leaving him to raise his nephew to become the next emperor. Until one day, the boy disappeared and was never found, so his cousin, the only royal left, was given his own second name and had to take the throne of the male Twin Emperor even without the use of magic.” Adrien was now trembling in my arms and he wouldn’t stop even if I tried to calm him down.

“Wait I still don’t get it. What does all of this have to do with who you are, or how you know Adrien?” My arms now holding Adrien tightly as if to not let him escape. My own eyes tearing up seeing him like this.

_“Why won’t you calm down, please I don’t like to see you like this, please please please, just smile once again, you are flooding in sadness like all the air around you has turned into water and won’t let any of us breath, please Adrien.”_

“You don’t get it, Luka?!!” Adrien rose his head wildly and pushed me away _Oh no_ eyes red and swollen, tears flowing wildly down his cheeks. “I’m the child, that wasn’t supposed to be born! I’m Gabriel’s child! The next in line to be emperor! I killed Emilie! I WAS THE REASON MY MOTHER DIED!” And with those words Adrien started wailing, he could probably be heard by the whole town by this point. _What is going on?_

Adrien curled up in the floor _What do I do_ he was still crying loudly, sobbing as if his lungs couldn’t pull enough air anymore _He’s broken, I need to fix it_ his blond hair now disheveled and covering his eyes completely, getting damp in tears. _I can’t see him like this I can’t_ the blond started hitting the floor with his fists as a sign of despair.

“ _You idiot! React already! You are going to leave him like that? Just be there for him, that’s the only thing you can do right now! But at least DO SOMETHING!”_ I forced myself to move after noticing I was only staring at Adrien. I had to do something, so I moved towards the body now wailing in the floor a step away from me and grabbed his already injured fists and enveloped both in my hands, to stop him from harming himself.

“ADRIEN!” I shouted as clearly as I could even with the fear invading me because of my friend’s current state.

“ADRIEN!” I shout again, and this time I see his head raising a little to look at me from behind his wet bangs. I remove the hair from his eyes with one of my hands and then go back to holding his fists. “Adrien…” I say again softly. “It’s not your fault, none of it is. And even if it were, I’m here for you, Adrien, remember?” I say as I tighten my hold in his fists lightly. His face was paralyzed in surprise, until it began morphing once again in his crying face, but this time, he hugged me instead and rested all his body weight in me.

“Thank you… thank you…” Adrien started whispering once and again lightly, while holding me tightly. Meanwhile I hold him back and used one of my hands to pet the back of his head in an attempt to calm him.

“It’s ok, Adrien, everything’s ok.” I say in his ear, hoping everything really is ok. While the elder watched us, with sadness in his eyes. _His eyes tell me maybe not everything is ok…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was it! I'm really sorry for those long expositions but I swear there won't be many of them in the future, you gotta understand I'm building a whole universe here, I can't draw for my life and I'm trying my best with words, I'm sorry ;w;
> 
> Uhm also... is this considered angst? I mean this is technically my second fic so I don't really know(owo?) Should I consider it angst? Do I need to tag it? Is it just me being exaggerated, and crying at my own story? I don't hecking knooooow:D So please, I would actully like if you guys told me :d  
> Oh and please tell me if you enjoyed this chapter, I would really love to know your opinions:3
> 
> Aaaaand as always, thanks for reading!!!!! c:


	9. A time I lost and the consequences it brought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys and the elder finish up their talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooo!!! I promised I'll be back soon didn't I?;3 So here I am, once again with a chapter full of information but please bear with me-w-' NEways, I noticed that my kudos went up and you don't know how happy I am about it!!! Seriously thank you guys, to everysingle one of you who ever left kudos in my work, it's what keeps me going nowadays.
> 
> Oh by the way, this chapter has mentions of murder, nothing explicit, it's quite literal just a mention, but I thought I would warn either way. Oh and many many tears, because our boys are crybabys, so be prepared, 'cause you were warned.

Adrien’s POV

Time went by, I didn’t notice how long I had been crying, my eyes hurt from the number of tears they had expelled, and my throat felt sore and completely dry. I had stopped shouting a while ago, my voice unable to produce sound any longer. I was sobbing, but my head finally felt clear enough. When I finally noticed that I was now straddled in Luka’s embrace, while he gently stroked my hair.

I jerk away from him and wipe away the rest of my tears in the sleeves of my robe, my face feeling hotter than it normally does. I avoid looking at Luka while I regain my composure and keep my face hidden with my robe.

“ _Oh, my Gods! I can’t believe I just went and covered Luka in tears like that! What will he think now? He probably hates me anyways, it’s like He said once ‘who would like someone like you’ yeah that’s probably it. Most likely I went and hugged Luka just when he was thinking about leaving a trash like me behind, I bet even right now he must be thinking about leaving me here. What would I do? I can’t go back to the temple while the contract is in effect, and if Luka breaks his promise, his sister may go back and succumb to her illness once again! Maybe if I tell him that I didn’t wish to be born, or that I already went and researched for ways to fix this, maybe I could convince him…”_

My thoughts were interrupted by a hand touching my cheek, moving my head slightly to look at Luka once again. To stare at those eyes like deep sea, and then I notice the worry.

“Are you feeling better now?” His eyes trembling with the wish to produce tears of their own, but his smile showed not only worry, but care.

_“He can’t be worrying about me, right? I mean, why would he, we met less than four days ago, we are complete strangers! He probably is trying to be nice with me, no, with the Sage. Yeah, that must be it, I mean if even He wasn’t nice with me, why would Luka show any kind of concern for my sake?”_

My face must have looked surprised because I heard him call my name.

“Adrien” The sound of my name coming from his lips, it was like a fresh breeze of air, and it calmed my worries completely.

I go and grab the hand he was resting in my cheek and try my best to smile calmly at him. “Yes, I am feeling a bit better, thank you Luka.” He smiles more sincerely at me and nods, letting go of my cheek, leaving the feeling of his hand lingering in my face, like something is missing. I start feeling heat in my cheeks once again and stop pursuing that line of thought. I grab the teacup that Wang Fu served us when we arrived and take a sip of the now cold tea to alleviate the dry feeling of my throat.

I hear someone clearing their throat and remember the presence of Wang Fu with us, a bit of shame running through my faction, noticing that the same happened to Luka who was now scratching the right side of his head and looking to the floor.

“So, Luka, now you know the truth about Adrien, and my connection to him. He, a descendant of the Empress, and me a descendant of one of her brothers, we are technically family, even if related by a far connection. Is there anything else that you want to know?”

Luka shook his head. “No, I think that I’m at max capacity on new information for now, I can’t even think of any questions. But if I do, I’ll let you know, if that’s ok?” This last part he said it directing his look towards me, at which I look at Wang Fu, who was as well expecting an answer from me. I nod my head energetically.

“Yeah, of course, ask whenever you wish.”

“Well in that case, now I wish to ask a question to you, young mage.” Uncle Wayzz’s descendant said. “Where were you all these years? How did you end up as the Sage’s disciple? The whole Empire went out in a mission to search for you for years! I only recognized you from the portraits in the Empress’ castle. You don’t even look affected by the passing of time!”

I grimace a little at the question. “Alright, I’ll tell you the truth, but you must promise to keep this hidden from everyone else alright? I don’t wish to attract that much attention, the only one I can trust in right now is Luka.” I look to the other boy for reassurance, I watch him nod at me and I take a deep breath, preparing myself for the story I hadn’t shared before.

“The truth is, I’m not the Sage’s disciple, I am the Sage. Back in the Empire, the night I ‘disappeared’, I was resting in my chambers, preparing to sleep, when a man appeared before me, enveloped in a bright light, a wooden staff with a curved end in the upper part in his left hand. For some reason I didn’t feel wary of him, rather, I felt at peace in his presence. The man introduced himself as the Sage of the sacred temple. My uncle had told me stories about the Sage before, it was recorded that part of the reason the Empress and her allies could achieve unity was because of the gifts granted to them by the Sage, but my father had always told me that was just a fairytale. When the old Sage appeared, he told me that the temple had chosen me as the next Sage, that his own time to serve was reaching the end and asked me if I was willing to accept the offer.” I stop, remembering the moment vividly.

_“If that hadn’t happened that day, I probably wouldn’t have accepted. Thinking back on it, maybe my decision was influenced by how I felt back then. This must be the cost of taking the easy way out… Maybe I should have rejected his offer.”_ I continue talking.

“That moment I accepted the Sage’s request I shook his hand and blacked out. When I was conscious again, I was already in the temple, the old Sage nowhere to be seen. Nothing around me, except for the old Sage’s staff, floating right in the middle of the temple. So I went and took the staff and, when I touched it, it changed into what you see today.” I lift my gray metal-like staff and continue. “Knowledge started flowing inside my head, all the instructions, rules, and basic knowledge of the temple, as well as my new magical, almost omnipotent, abilities and how to handle them. And that’s all I can remember, years passed without me noticing. The temple makes the Sage unable to age, but with that we also loose the sense of time, so I can’t say how much years went by exactly since then.” I finish, my hand reaching for my nape, massaging the back of my neck, trying to relieve the stress of reviving such memories.

“579” I whip my head towards the voice’s origin.

“What again?” I asked to Wang Fu, trying to process the information.

“You were gone for 579 years, Adrien. I remember I was 7 years old when you disappeared.” The information, although surprising, didn’t shock me, I had known that centuries went by while I was in the temple, but something inside my stomach still twisted and turned at the actual number.

“Well, no matter how many years passed, I’m still 16-year-old me. The temple wouldn’t allow me to age anyways, and for most of those years I was just sleeping.”

“Wait you are 16?!” Luka finally speaks, his face showing signs of sincere surprise, even when his face is usually an unchanging aloof smile.

“Uhm… yeah, the day I became the Sage I was celebrating my coming of age, I just became 16 so I kind of stood there all these years.” I say trying to process what was it that confused Luka that much.

“I can’t believe all this time I have been technically older than you! I’m 17 by the way. You are the same age as Juleka! And you can handle magic like that? People from your time must have been amazing, huh?” His mouth still slightly agape in shock, until mirth show in his eyes and sly smile appears in his face. “And the temple’s magic is the real deal, indeed. You don’t look 595 years at all.” He says chuckling, and I feel my face blush.

I bash him lightly with my shoulder which makes him laugh louder. “Hey! I’m still 16 ok? I didn’t gain any years inside that temple!”

“Whatever you say grandpa.” Luka answers with a snicker in his face.

“Oh, shut up you!!” I say with fake anger and my cheeks completely red by this point.

“Is there anything wrong with people being older than 500 years, Luka?” Wang Fu says with a glare directed at Luka. He notices his looks and sits up straight and puts the most serious gesture I have ever seen in his face.

“No sir, not at all.” Small beads of sweat coming from his forehead, at which Fu starts chuckling and I follow suit laughing back at Luka for his well-deserved payback. Luka then relaxes and starts laughing with both of us.

Once we stopped Fu spoke. “Ok, now I understand what happened. And how is it that you ended up coming with Luka to our village?”

“Oh, I can answer that!” Luka said taking the initiative. “You see, it started when you told me to go and look for the Sage…”

And then Luka proceeded to explain all of the events from the beginning of his travels to the part where we sealed our magic deal, as well as the specifications of the price he delivered in exchange for his wish.

“I see, so that’s how you to ended up being connected by such powerful magic…”

“Wait you can feel magic?” Luka questioned. “How come you have never taught any kid in the village about magic? Adrien said that with a proper mage anybody could awaken their magic powers.”

“Well young man, that’s the part of the story I wanted to talk to Adrien here about when I invited him to talk with me.” Fu said to Luka and turned his head to look at me. “Do you think we can now begin? I am sure Luka will be able to understand a bit more about what I want to discuss with you.”

I nod solemnly and steeled myself for whatever Wang Fu wished to tell me so urgently to come at me at this hour of the night. “I’m ready.”

I feel a hand rest on my shoulder for a moment and see Luka looking at Fu, his eyes focused completely on Fu. “I’m ready as well.” Then he said in a lower volume. “And I am here if you need me to be.” A smile involuntarily forms in my lips, and once again, my mind feels clearer just because of his words.

“All right then.” Fu begins. “In that case I want to begin with a question. Luka, do you remember about the 13 kingdoms?”

“Y-yeah, you taught us about it when we were little.” Luka said, his voice a little unsure. “If I remember well, the 13 kingdoms, are the biggest territories in the continent. Each of them is led from one big city located right in the middle of their continent. Twelve of them are surrounding the 13th kingdom, which is locate right at the middle of the continent. Also I think each of them worshipped a single God, except for the 13th kingdom which had a pair of twin gods…” Luka’s words wandered, interrupting the revealing information.

“Wait! Elder Fu, you don’t mean that…” Luka stood up and confronted Fu from the place he was standing on. The man just raised his hand while he took a sip from his teacup and Luka sat down again.

“It’s just as you are thinking Luka, I knew you were good at this game of deduction.” Fu said calmly.

“Excuse me.” I say, Luka’s reactions confusing me. “I don’t have a big picture to look at this time, so I’m a little lost. What did Luka realize?”

“Would you like to answer the question boy?” Wang Fu said directing his gaze at Luka before taking another sip from his tea. Luka just nod.

“Adrien, I think what the elder is trying to say, is that the kingdom I mentioned before, the 13th kingdom right in the middle of the continent, is the Empire you come from. And those twin gods… I think they may be your ancestors, the Twin Emperors you mentioned!”

“Wait, what?!” The information taking me by surprise. “Gods?! But my great grandfather was just a human being! There’s no way I’m descendant of a god or anything of the like!!”

“It’s just like Luka says Adrien. I’ll tell you the whole story, what happened in all those years you were in the temple.” Fu said, leaving his cup of tea in the floor once again. “This may be a bit more shocking than what you have been told, are you ready?” I went and instinctively reached for Luka’s hand and held it tight, I felt him held my hand back and my shoulders relaxed.

“I’m ready, throw me your best, Fu.” I said confidently. Luka’s support giving me the strength I needed.

“Alright then. Back when you disappeared, as I mentioned before, your cousin, went and took the place as half of the Twin Emperors, even at the protest of your late uncle. With the support of your father, Gabriel, your cousin kept up with his role as Emperor. Even with the participation of your distant cousin as the Twin Empress, your cousin and Gabriel were more popular with the people by far, they had some sort of charm thanks to the fact of being magic-less like most of the people in the Empire. One day, tragedy occurred and the last Twin Emperors, your uncle and distant aunt, were assassinated, in the middle of the night. Gabriel and your cousin exposed ‘evidence’ of the assassination being planned by the Twin Empress and the 5 royal families, descendants of the Empress’ siblings, mine included. The people of the Empire, outraged, and influenced by your cousin’s influence, decided that it was necessary to overthrow the royal families as well as the Twin Empress, whose families were all exiled outside of the Empire, were land was barren, and life was harsh.” The thought of my father being implicated in the assassination of my uncle and aunt, who treated me like a son, hit me like a horse. I started feeling faint and I wobbled a little, until I bumped lightly in Luka’s shoulder. Looked at my hand and saw it was still being held by Luka’s own.

_“I’m okay, this time I’m not alone. Luka is not Him… No, He is gone, long gone already.”_

“The Empire had lost the royal families, who helped regulate the big territory that it covered, so your cousin as the new King, a title chosen by him, along with Gabriel’s influence, decided that the wisest action would be to divide the territory of the Empire in twelve surrounding plots of land, each of them given to the first-born descendant of the Empress’ knight, who were loyal to the Empire, and easily manipulated by the new King. With this, your cousin and Gabriel took control of the Empire, and implemented a law that magic would not be taught to anyone but the royal family, his own, and the people the King himself designated, even prohibiting the families of the 12 knights to make use of magic or teach it to their future generations, the penalty of using magic being dead. The years passed and the existence of magic began disappearing, like an old rumor, just like the Empress, her siblings, the twelve knights, and the original Twin Emperors. Rumor has it that your cousin managed to get married to a magic user and from then on his family was able to produce mages, even if less powerful than the main bloodline of the Empress.” At this mention, Fu finally showed honesty in his factions, his face tired, showing all those years he had lived, and a hint of sadness.

“Meanwhile, us, the exiled families, dispersed throughout the land outside of the Empire, doing our best to survive with what little resources we could gathered. We established ourselves here and there, wherever we could find a nice supply of land and water and began gathering information on the Empire. Many of us were lost to famine, droughts, or even sometimes assassinated by the King’s people, but we made it through somehow. We stopped teaching magic because of the fear of exposing ourselves to the kingdom, and even now we haven’t tried to teach magic again. During that time, the Empire as we knew it started changing, the power of the King’s new bloodline over the vast land weakened, which ended up dividing the 12 families’ territory into their own independent kingdom, each of them naming one of their family’s descendant into first king or queen. The history of the Empress, her siblings, and the knights, was unearthed once again by scholars in the different kingdoms. With certain misinterpretations, each kingdom mistook the knight of each of the leading families into gods, thus causing each kingdom to worship a different god which used to be a knight. In the case of the middle kingdom, the 13th kingdom as it was named since then, the King recognized that the real gods must have been the mystic beings born from the Empress, the powerful twins who shone with the power of magic, causing this kingdom to be the only one that worshipped a pair of gods. Which brings us to today, a world, where magic is almost a fairytale, where the 13 kingdoms rule the lands and sometimes fight for it, and where the peace made by the Empress as well as the Empress herself, were lost to time, to never come back, until today.”

“This is a bit too much to process.” I say, my mind about to explode. “Are you saying that… my father, my own father was partly the cause of the world to be what it is today? He and my cousin disappeared magic from the world’s custom? How could they? How could he?!!! The Empire was peaceful, and its people happy, no wars, no hunger, no nothing!” My head was thumping, a pain in my chest, my stomach turning once again.

“Sometimes, humans are too greedy Adrien. For your father, as well as your cousin, maybe the Empire wasn’t enough.” Wang said, but my frustration was boiling, tears threatening to start falling again from my already red eyes.

“That pair of selfish bastards! I always knew my father was planning something but…” My anger boiling down to nothing, giving space for my sadness to flow again. “…but how could he actually do something like this?” A new tear fell from my eye but was quickly swiped away by Luka’s thumb before it fell from my cheek.

“Hey, Adrien, it’s okay. You are here now, maybe we can’t do anything about fights between kingdoms, but we can live peacefully here in the village, don’t you think? If you want magic to come back to the world, maybe you could teach it, we are not inside the 12 kingdoms, so we don’t need to follow any kind of rule. Heck, maybe the rule was forgotten already! You are free to do whatever you want to, remember? Don’t let the past weight you down, Adrien.” Luka’s smile was shining brighter than ever, a lighthouse among the darkness that my mind became during this talk.

I smile back at him and squeeze our still joined hands a little before finally letting go. I stood up and grabbed my staff with authority, just like I did back when Wang Fu introduced himself. “Thank you for sharing this information with me, Wang Fu, I appreciate your amiability. As I mentioned before I will be staying in the village with Luka, so if you ever want to talk about the past, you know where to find me.” My head held high I started turning to exit the asphyxiating parlor that will now be full of bad memories.

“Wait! Adrien, I didn’t bring you here just to tell you about the world’s circumstances. The thing is, my family is still infiltrated inside the former Empire, and by that, I mean in every single one of the kingdoms. Some weeks ago, I received some information from the spy inside the 13th kingdom. The King and his advisor are looking for the successor of the Twin Empress bloodline. Apparently, they discovered a ritual devised by the Empress’ husband, that utilizes the blood of the twins, but the purpose is unknown. The problem is, they are exploring the whole continent, even the villages outside the kingdom. With the help of an ancient charm that traces bloodline through magic, they are able to determine who the heir to each bloodline is.”

“Okay, so what is your point here?” I said confused and fed up with the information shared today. Even a bit irritated on my leave to be interrupted.

“So, what do you think would happen if the King’s men where to come here and discover you are the heir to the Twin Emperor bloodline? You have to remember, that, yes, the King himself is an heir, but his blood is too diluted, if they were to find someone with your characteristics, the 13th kingdom would take you away! Your blood would be useful for their ritual, and Gods know what may happen if the ritual succeeds!” My knees felt weak, my legs gave up and I knelt on the floor, letting go of my staff in the process, hitting with a thud on the house’s floor.

“Are you saying that even after all these years, now that I am free once again to live a life, I can get imprisoned again?” I look towards the ceiling and start shouting. “HAVEN’T YOU HAD ENOUGH FUN WITH ME ALREADY?!” I shout to the gods my uncle once told me supposedly existed if they actually did, hoping to aim my anger at someone, or something.

A hand holds my shoulder, this time it was Fu’s own wrinkled hand. “I’m sorry Adrien, that is how it is now. That’s why I wanted to warn you to be aware of strangers visiting the village, and to never be alone, in case someone came to attack you and try to kidnap you. I know it’s a heavy burden on you, but I considered wiser to tell you rather than let things happen without warning.” I sniff a bit and for the first time, smile at the old man.

“No, it’s…alright, Fu. Thank you for your warning, anyways, I will try to be careful. By the way, now that I think about it, do you know who the heir to the Twin Empress bloodline may be? Does your family know?” I ask actually worried about that unlucky girl.

“Actually, we don’t.” Fu says, with his head hanging low, and pain showing. “The Twin Empress that was exiled with my family when I was little disappeared, and we lost track of her immediately after the exile. For all that we know, her bloodline may even be dead by now.”

“Ok, in that case… I hope that is the case, even if it hurts me to think that about my poor cousin, she didn’t deserve this, none of you did…but I still wouldn’t wish a young girl with her blood to be at risk. In my case, I will do my best to not be discovered, Fu, I swear I won’t bring any harm to the village either. Thank you.” I nod lightly.

“No, thank you, young mage. I never thought that I would be able to see your face again, after all these years. Thank you, master Adrien.” Fu kneels again.

“I told you not to do that, come on stand up, Wang Fu.” I take him by his arm and help him stand up. “I’m only Adrien alright?” I say with a small smile at the man. “And now, Adrien really needs to sleep it’s really late already and I’m really expecting to close my eyes soon. Come on Luka let’s go.” I turn towards my friend and see him sitting in the floor his face still his eyes wide open.

“Lukaaaa!” I say again and wave my hand in front of his face. “Luka come on; we are leaving!!” I hold his arm and try to pull him up. He then stands and bows lightly at Fu and walks out of the room ahead of me. I hurriedly say goodbye to Fu, and follow behind Luka, who was honestly beginning to scare me. Once we were outside of the Fu’s house, I finally reach Luka and grab his shoulder. “Hey!! Luka, what’s going on? Are you ok?” His eyes focus on mine, and the next thing I know is I’m being crushed by his arms, his body extremely close to mine, holding me close as if I were to run If he loosens his arms a little.

“Adrien, I’m so sorry!” Luka says as he buries his face inside my shoulder. Confusing me even more than I already was. “I had no idea of all the things that you had been through before, and now by bringing you to my village I exposed you to danger and you must be so worried, and sad, and annoyed, and I’m really sorry you have no idea!” Luka said hurriedly.

He then grabbed me by the shoulders and separated himself from me, focusing his eyes on mine. “I swear I will protect you, ok? No matter what or who happens, I won’t let anyone take you away to use your blood in whatever weird magic thing they wish to use, I won’t fucking let anyone make you feel sad like you were today!” His eyes were piercing into mine, his face serious and his gestures honest, such worry and concern for me was melting me inside, and I couldn’t help but smile, with teary eyes.

“Thank you, Luka. Thank you so much.” I wipe at my eyes for the umpteenth time tonight and keep smiling at Luka. “Let’s go now, it’s really late already.” Then, I take his hands from my shoulders and start walking slowly in the direction of Luka’s house. I turn back to Luka again before continuing and with a grin in my face I shout at him “I will be counting on you my, cherished minstrel!” Before I start running towards Luka’s house.

I hear him chuckle and then running after me. “For you, I would even become a knight in shining armor, my dear mage!” He says between laughs and heavy breaths.

Something in my chest felt warm at his words. And my smile became wider than I remember it ever being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it!!! Finally finished the exposition chapters -,w,- You won't believe how heavy it felt to actually write these two chapters, altough I had to do it someday (which I was kinda avoiding, but be it).  
> I hope you had enjoyed these chapter as well, and well now you know what the main issue of the fic will be, will Adrien become ritual fodder? Will he not? Will Luka become ritual fodder maybe?:0 Naaaah-w- You'll have to wait for the answers to whatever you are thinking about anyways, unless you want to comment, in which case I will anser your questions spoiler-free;D  
> Please keep supporting my story as well as these two messy lovebirds who are more oblivious than yours truly. (PS: Fu definitely ships them.)  
> As always, thank you for reading, I hope some of you will be willing to leave your kudos or even your comments on whatever, I will love you eternally if you do:3


	10. Beds, shadows and gratitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy and the sage prepare to sleep and finally end this long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my people :3 This chapter wasn't really part of my plan, but I had the idea today out of a sudden and decided I could make a short chapter for the scenes in my head. So yay, a third chapter before new year's!!! I hope you enjoy it, there's nothing to important said inside it, but I made it with love for you the people who read my story, so I hope you enjoy it c:

We ran under the light of the moon and the stars all the way to my home. Laughing while we shoved each other trying to win our improvised race. Once we were inside, I guided Adrien to the second floor where my family’s bedrooms and our bathroom are. I opened the door to my room and let myself flop in my bed and kick off my shoes. Still trapped in the stupor of our race I didn’t notice the silence where I was expecting to hear Adrien laughing as well.

_“Wait a minute… Oh my Gods!!!”_ I straighten up and sit on my bed.

“Right! Sorry Adrien, I kinda forgot you are supposed to stay here tonight.” I watch him make a face. “Nonono I mean, I didn’t forget, rather what I forgot was to like arrange the bedding, maybe night clothes as well if you want, oh crap. I’m a really bad host, aren’t I? Here I am just laying in my bed like you knew what to do, I’m sorry.” I grimace and start scratching the side of my head, my eyes looking at the lyre resting in the corner of the room along my travelling bag and my flute. My fingers itching to grab it and strum the strings to calm myself down. “Shoot, the room is even too dark, wait a second.” I reach for the oil lamp that’s resting in my nightstand and lit it with a match. “There, now we can see, anything else?”

Then I hear Adrien chuckling. “Oh, Luka, I always considered myself a rambler, but you definitely take the crown right out of my head! Don’t worry, I understand you haven’t been home for a while, and you were distracted, you wouldn’t have noticed anyways, you dummy.” Adrien says as he messes my hair with his hand. “Although I reeeeally want to know how we will be doing this you know? I mean I can sleep on the floor you know I use my robe, it’s pretty comfy.” Adrien smiles _angelically_ at me, his eyes shining again, their light back again after we left the elder’s house.

“Oh, no it’s alright, you are my guest you are sleeping on the bed and I won’t take no for an answer, young man!” I say standing up and pushing Adrien to sit in the edge of the bed like I was before.

“Hey, I’m not that much younger than you! Besides it’s your bed! I can’t just take it from you, come one, you use the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.” He stands up and forces me to sit in the bed again.

We continue this little game of exchanging places on the bed until I finally make Adrien give in.

“Ok, fiiiiine!! I’ll sleep in the bed, but we’ll exchange tomorrow, alright? And at least use my robe, I won’t let you sleep on the cold floor.” This time I chuckle at the boy’s pouting face and ruffle his hair.

“Don’t worry my liege.” I bow my head as I direct a wink playfully at the boy. _In my bed, the handsome boy in my bed_. “I know my house looks a little worn up, but we do have an extra set of blankets here.” I walk towards my drawers near the feet of my bed, take out two blankets from the third and lowest drawer and lay them in the floor besides my bed. “Although I would like if you could share one of the pillows in the bed, my neck would be pretty grateful to you.” I say chuckling lightly while scratching my head shyly.

“Oh sure, they are yours after all.” Adrien _the boy still sitting on my bed_ took one of the pillows and handed it to me.

“Thanks. Now, I usually sleep in a set of night clothes that are not as rough as these ones.” I say while grabbing the collar of my shirt. “I have two sets so if you want to, I can lend you one, it may be a bit big on you since I’m taller, but it would be better than using those suspenders and button-up shirt of yours no doubt.” I make a smug face at Adrien to show I’m right and his clothes would be uncomfortable.

“Ok ok I’ll take you up on the offer on those clothes, but only because I haven’t slept in a bed in a long time and I want the full comfy experience.” Adrien says in faked annoyance while pouting.

“Perfect!” I open my first drawer and take out a pair of light but comfortable pants and a matching long sleeved shirt and throw them to Adrien, who catches them while falling on his back in my bed. I laugh at him and then take out my own set of clothes and take off my own blue vest and white shirt. I put on my night shirt and when I start unbuckling my black belt, I get interrupted.

“Wait! What are you doing?” Adrien shouts at me flustered, his cheeks reddened.

“Oh! Sorry, does it make you uncomfortable? It’s just we are both boys and I’m used to changing in front of the other men from the village. If you want to I can go outside to change my pants and you can change your clothes in the meanwhile.” I say wary to not have offended my friend with my differences in common sense.

“No no it’s ok, it’s just, I’ve never seen anybody else’s body, not even back in the Empire. I haven’t changed in front of anyone either, at least not since I learned to dress myself. But it’s ok!! I have an idea, just give me a minute.”

Adrien then stood up and took my oil lamp to put it in the floor in between us. “Alright, come Umbra.” Adrien waved his finger like he had done in the woods and his little black cat came out again, stretching her limbs and yawning _do shadows yawn?_

“Hey! It’s little Umbra! But how is she going to help with the issue now?” I ask as I tilt my head.

“Easy! Umbra, make a wall, please.” The cat then grew bigger and started taking on a rectangular shape until it covered Adrien and part of my room perfectly, the other side completely obscured. “Ok, now you can continue, I’ll ask Umbra to go back when I’m finished changing If you don’t mind.”

“Uhm…s-sure. Although I have a question, can you like… see behind the cat? Wall? Whatever. Because the lamp is on my side of the room you know?”

“Oh don’t worry, I can manipulate Umbra’s shadow to have pretty small pores in it, it allows light to pass through but still covers me from seeing through her figure. So yes I can see, as bright as usual but I won’t see you.” He chuckled after the last part.

“Well it doesn’t matter, I already gave you part of the show, right?” My voice flirty while I smirk, trying to mess with my friend’s low immunity to skin exposure.

“Shut up, Luka!!!” Adrien shouts back at me while I finish changing my rough brown pants to put on my night set.

“ _I can practically hear his blushing from back there haha, I’m pretty sure the poor boy is ridiculously red right now. How adorable. Adorable? I mean yeah, he is adorable, I can’t really deny that, can I? Besides what’s wrong about thinking someone’s adorable? I think Juleka is adorable as well. Yeah, that’s it!”_

“Ok!” Adrien’s voice interrupted my inner monologue. “I finished changing. Umbra, you can go back now.” The wall turns into a cat again and Adrien scratches his head before making her disappear again. “You know? They do fit a little big, but they are so snuggly that I don’t mind, I’ll definitely enjoy sleeping in these, thanks!” Adrien says as he straightens up and smiles at me. My nightclothes big on him, the sleeves hiding part of his hands, and the pants covering his feet. _He is using my clothes, he looks so… cute._

_“Wait? What am I thinking? Adorable is one thing, but cute? Come on Luka, deal with it already! You just met him, and he is your friend, you literally have been friends for three days, you can’t begin thinking like this, so calm the heck down already!”_

I must have been gawking at Adrien because I hear him call at me. “Do I look that bad with your clothes? The stile doesn’t fit?” Adrien was massaging the back of his neck which I noticed he does when he is nervous.

I shake my head. “What? No! You look amazing! I mean… you look good in them, yeah! Besides, you said you felt comfortable right? That’s what matter the most, so don’t worry you _pretty_ little head over it alright?”

“Oh, alright then, I’m glad.” He smiles warmly at me, and it takes my best not to melt right there. “Well, let’s try to sleep then.” Adrien takes the oil lamp from the floor and places it in the nightstand, then turns the flame off.

We both take our place in our beds (or blankets in my case) and wish each other a good night.

“Oh, and Luka…” I raise my head to look at the blonde’s slightly observable figure illuminated by the starlight from the window. “Thank you, it’s been the best day I have ever had in my whole life. I’m glad you came to the temple.” I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was smiling, that precious smile that I wanted to protect the most.

“My pleasure, Adrien. I’ll try to make tomorrow even better for you.” I smile myself even if he couldn’t see me and then fell asleep almost immediately. I dreamt with black cats and a blond boy dragging me by the hand throughout the village with the most childish and adorable smile I have ever seen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of it! Shorter than the last two right? And we finally saw the blushing mess Adrien that we deserved haha. I already had the idea that Adrien having lived most of his existance alone would be shy of seeing other people's bodies, so I kinda made that work in here. (And Luka needed more things to tease Adrien withX3) 
> 
> So I hope you liked the chapter and that you are enjoying the story as a whole. If you are (and haven't done it before) please leave your kudos, I would appreciate that a looooot. If you already did, well then I already appreaciate you a lot <3  
> Oh and if you want and can leave your comments, I really love reading and answering those^w^
> 
> As always, thanks for reading guys, have a good day!!

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you all who gave their precious time to read my humble piece of tra... writting, yeah writting^w^  
> I would love if you commented on whatever you want to comment and if you give me kudos, believe me I'll love you forever and even brag about you with my friends, because you are great for leaving kudos, if you don't is okay as well, I understand c:  
> Please do tell me if I made any errors in there because I don't really proofread and I'm normally posting this things at 3am.  
> Oh! And my tumblr is https://mistnshadow.tumblr.com/ please do visit me or chat with me sometime if you wish. I would love to hear your thoughts or anything.


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